February 28, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal and logistics firm TPG NV (TP) said Monday it is looking to expand through acquisitions or distribution agreements in Spain, Asia and Eastern Europe. "We are actively looking at strategic opportunities in Spain and Eastern Europe," said Chief Executive Peter Bakker. "But Asia is also on our radar screen," he added."

February 28, 2005 -- AMEInfo has reported that "DHL, the region's dominant logistics and express operator, today released figures that reveal its Middle East express business could double in the next five years on the back of runaway growth that far outstrips world averages." See also Strategiy.

February 28, 2005 -- The Belfast Telegraph (U.K.) has reported that "Much has been made of the challenge facing the Royal Mail delivery monopoly, but it already has a rival in Northern Ireland. Regional Mail Services provides a business mail service within the province that has the backing of local industry watchdog Postwatch NI. John Hughes, managing director of Regional Mail Services, said the service was more cost effective than using Royal Mail. "We have secured the first Regional Access 9 contract with Royal Mail, which enables us to operate a range of new services that will revolutionise the way businesses use the post," he said. His company operates three services which cover next-day delivery, delivery on a designated day and delivery within three days. Mr Hughes said direct marketing and digital media meant customers now demanded a more cost-effective, user-friendly and flexible service."

February 28, 2005 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "TPG, the Dutch global mail, express and logistics group, today said net income soared 82 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago, driven by strong revenue growth and fatter margins in all three divisions."

February 28, 2005 -- Traffic World has reported that "Even as it hauls huge volumes of mail in a deal with the U.S. Postal Service trumpeted as a classic partnership, FedEx is in a struggle with a government agency and competitors over whether to disclose just what that partnership is worth to the company. In a letter that had been kept confidential, FedEx wrote to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics that releasing revenue and volume information about its lucrative postal contract would bring the carrier and the USPS "commercial harm" and would delay mail delivery. Attorney David Hendel said he believed the secrecy cloak is hiding potentially embarrassing information about the management of the contract. "I think the Postal Service is embarrassed about how much they are paying," he said. "They've really clamped down on any information about it. They treat it as a big success. But it actually is a very expensive proposition for them." USPS Vice President for Network Operations Management Paul Vogel told the BTS that his agency supports FedEx's refusal to provide the information." Traffic World has posted a complete copy of the FedEx letter on its web site.

February 28, 2005 -- The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum announced an agreement with the Museum für Kommunikation in Berne, Switzerland, to display materials from the renowned Charles A. Hirzel collection at the Postal Museum in 2008 and 2009. In his lifetime, Charles A. Hirzel of Geneva created a collection that is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world of early United States stamps. The Museum für Kommunikation, formerly known as the "Swiss PTT-Museum," houses the collection. The Hirzel collection has not been on view in the United States since 1966.

February 28, 2005 -- AFX has reported that "Peter Bakker, CEO of TPG NV, said he expects to hear from the Danish government within one month on the sale of a stake in the Danish postal operator. TPG is among several bidders for the 25 pct stake in Post Danmark put up for sale by the Danish government. TPG has also expressed interest in bidding for a stake in the Belgian postal operator. However, Bakker said he has had 'no clear indications' from the Belgian government yet on the timing of privatisation. TPG is looking to expand into foreign postal markets in order to help offset declines in domestic mail volumes and increasing competition in the Netherlands."

February 28, 2005 -- As Transport Intelligence has noted:

• In a wide ranging and apposite speech the Chief Executive of UPS has warned that it is becoming increasingly important to counter the voices of anti-globalisation. Addressing a business meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, Mike Eskew quoted a recent poll in the Wall Street Journal which had found that 54% of Americans thought that globalisation was bad for US workers and for the US economy. Behind this fear is the concern that jobs would be increasingly lost to China and India as the world’s trade regime gradually opens up. Eskew blames the fear of globalisation on a lack of understanding of its benefits. Instead of being afraid of the impact which it will have on jobs, he believes that it should be embraced in much the same way as new technologies were in the 1980s. At the time it was feared that the automation of manufacturing processes would result in widespread unemployment. However in the long term it led to the stimulation of the international economy, and he believes that globalisation would have the same effect.
• The UK’s national postal operator, Royal Mail, has published quality of service information for the period from October to December 2004. According to the company almost 92% of First Class letters were delivered the working day after posting, the best seasonal performance for almost ten years. All fifteen indicators for mail service against which it measures its performance showed significant improvements from the previous year. On a cumulative basis 12 of the fifteen were the same or better than last year. Second Class mail reached its target level with 98.5% of letters delivered within three working days. See also East Anglian Daily News.

February 28, 2005 -- AMEInfo has reported that "Emirates Post expects to boost its annual turnover by 10 per cent this year by continuing to diversify its range of services and the company believes postal services across the Gulf region can follow its example." See also MENA-FN.

February 28, 2005 -- Haaretz (Israel) has reported that "The workers at the Postal Authority have declared an official industrial dispute, a legal prerequisite for starting some type of protest action, including a strike, after a two-week period. The dispute centers around an agreement to allow the private company Aviv Shigur to increase its mass-circulation delivery business from a current NIS 10 million a year to NIS 40 million a year, in major competition with the state-owned postal monopoly."

February 26, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue: USPS CFO defends need for across-the-board rate case; information on USPS flats sequencing program; news on USPS customer service rulings regarding the use of "personal" information in Standard Class mailings; a new structure and focus for MTAC; USPS launches Deliver magazine; Potter to address CEOs at PostCom's "Hail to the Chiefs" executive postal briefing in Scottsdale; "The Bogeyman Doesn't Wear Brown;"other postal news from the U.S. and around the world.

February 26, 2005 -- The latest issue of PostCom's Post Ops Update is available online.

February 26, 2005 -- On this site you will find an index to presentations given at the February MTAC meeting.

February 26, 2005 -- As the Dallas Morning News has reported "The U.S. Postal Service has created its own magazine And what would you call a magazine from the post office? Deliver, of course. The slick bimonthly magazine will push the Postal Service's direct marketing message to decision-makers. About 350,000 copies of Volume 1, Issue 1 of Deliver will be mailed in March to chief marketing officers, vice presidents of marketing, directors of advertising, brand managers, loyalty marketing professionals, advertising agency staffers and people who report to them."

February 26, 2005 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "The Managing Director of Posta Uganda, Mr Tom Kiwewa, has made a compelling case for re-licensing the company to continue rendering its services exclusively. He said in just three years, he had lifted a sick and crumbling government parastatal to a robust business entity with a strong market brand. Demonstrating his transformation of the company, Kiwewa said he initiated and implemented a series of managerial and operational reforms that redeemed Posta Uganda, formerly Uganda Post Ltd (UPL) - first achieving self-sufficiency financially and then registering a profit, modest as it might be."

February 26, 2005 --The Journal of Commerce has reported that "UPS, a day after announcing it would close its Dayton, Ohio, air hub in 2006, said it will build a 785,257-square-foot expansion at its Louisville, Ky., hub. The $82.5 million project would make Louisville the premier hub for sorting UPS's heavy-freight air shipments. Louisville was among seven cities contending for the expansion."

February 26, 2005 -- As the Lowell Sun (MA) has noted, "The post office has announced it is taking 65 big blue mailboxes out of circulation in Lowell, mostly in the downtown area, as part of its latest effort to streamline letter collection."

February 26, 2005 -- The USPS' chief public affairs and communications officer "sets the record straight" in a letter to the editor of Wired.

February 25, 2005 -- Modern Materials Handling has reported that "FKI Logistex® (www.fkilogistex.com)has announced that its recent $24.7-million contract with the United States Postal Service (USPS) was one of the largest material handling contracts awarded by the USPS last year and has been cited as the 14th largest contract of any kind granted by the USPS in FY 2004. The award covers the design and
implementation of a bulk- and tray-mail sorting and distribution system and an airline receiving concourse operation at the JFK International Service Center in Queens, New York. The new sorting and distribution system is one of the largest single-site material handling projects that the USPS has implemented in recent years and is part of an extensive operational upgrade at the JFK center."

February 25, 2005 -- The latest issue of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. legislative update is online.

February 25, 2005 -- In letters addressed to the chairmen and ranking minority members of the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the Postal Service, the USPS Board of Governors said: "We believe strongly that to be successful the reform package must incorporate the following elements:

• The escrow requirement for the so-called savings in payments to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) should be removed.
• The portion of the costs of CSRS benefits for USPS employees attributable to their military service should not be borne by USPS.
• We understand the concerns of Congress and the Administration over the current fiscal situation and also over the long-run cost obligations for USPS retiree health care. Accordingly, we have proposed an approach that we believe would address both concerns while mitigating customer uncertainties regarding future postage rates in the near- and mid-term.
• The legislation should incorporate improvements in the labor area- which accounts for nearly 80 percent of USPS costs. We believe that important employee benefit features that are part of total compensation strongly influence the USPS's future costs and thus should be subject to negotiation at the same table with wages.
• The USPS should be granted more rate flexibility and authority to introduce new postal services.
• It is imperative that an exigent rate case be provided for, to ensure the continued delivery of services in the face of serious adverse events.
• We believe that the USPS should be granted authority to change rates and introduce appropriate new postal services (both with Board approval) within a range (determined by the Postal regulator) without prior approval.
• We believe that CPI would be an acceptable, albeit very challenging, price cap on rates (that is, the top of the range). We also believe that the bottom of the range should be established sufficiently low to allow price competition while covering reasonable estimates of attributable costs. The cap should be applied at the aggregate level, and certainly no lower than each class, to allow the Board the requisite pricing flexibility.
• Any future changes in the scope of the postal monopoly should be considered within the context of the Postal Service's universal service mission and other social policy obligations. We believe that Congress and the Administration, not the regulator, are best positioned to set national policy striking a balance among these dimensions.
• We believe that we should be held fully accountable for the governance of the USPS, but also that we should be granted requisite authority. 
• We ask to be empowered to establish, without external review, levels of compensation, based on performance, for the chief officers of the organization rather than being limited to caps on federal pay. 
• We should also continue to be responsible for the retention of auditors, as well as the organization's Inspector General. Moreover, we should continue to be responsible for pursuing the efficiencies and cost control available from continuously rationalizing postal networks. 
• We would welcome inclusion of a provision in the reform legislation recognizing the ongoing need for network changes and the Board's responsibility to assure execution of an effective program. 
• We should be responsible for establishing appropriate levels of service and making sure they are maintained. Finally, we (rather than Congress) should continue to approve USPS budgets and requests for appropriations.

[Editor's Note: Absolutely right on! Dead on! And if you don't find a remarkable similarity between these principles and PostCom's Key Principles of Postal Reform and Q&As on the Precepts for Reform, then I'm your monkey's uncle. These principles make sense because they provide the ONLY sure path to successful reform.]

February 25, 2005 -- Business Mailers Review has reported that:

• As tandem efforts to automate the delivery function of flats move forward, the Postal Service is beginning to question exactly where to put its research efforts and dollars. The ultimate goal is to use technology to merge both letters and flats together in delivery point sequence so the carrier has one package of mail for each delivery point. But the Delivery Point Packaging (DPP) technology to do this does not yet exist. Vice President for Engineering Tom Day told the Mailers ' Technica (MTAC) last week that USPS had expected to award a test bed contract to one of four competing companies in February. But that timetable is slipping as discussions with vendors are ongoing.
• The Postal Service has filed with the Postal Rate Commission the fourth negotiated service agreement (NSA), with HSBC North America Holdings Inc. The filing states that this latest NSA is functionally equivalent to the first agreement the PRC approved with Capital One. Postal officials estimate the three- year arrangement will provide HSBC with direct economic benefits of up to $9 million in postage discounts and let the Postal Service capture costs savings and increased contribu- tion, which would minimize any potential risk to mailers not party to the agreement.
• The Postal Service will release its DMM 300 at the 2005 National Postal Forum, the country 's largest trade show, to be held March 20-23 in Nashville, TN. There will be four training sessions covering the latest DMM, which will be available in hard copy and CD Rom.
• The Postal Service is starting to drum up business for its new Centralized National Cases (CNC) office in an effort to give mailers who enter mailpieces at multiple USPS locations advance decisions concerning mailpiece design. Getting a ruling on mailpiece design upfront can save mailers a lot of wasted time, officials contend, and mailers can then plan their campaigns with confidence and stay on budget.
• Nonprofit mailers are questioning the logic of the slew of customer support rulings being issued to guide mailers before new rules go into effect defining what constitutes personnel information for purposes of qualifying for Standard Mail rates - particularly a ruling that will require a change in language that is commonplace in many nonprofit mail pieces. The controversial ruling, CSR PS-322, addresses mailpieces that contain a field that is completed by computer to show the total amount of donations for the previous year with instructions to "keep th receipt for tax purposes, " as we sider making a donation meeting or exceeding the amount contributed last year."
• Pitney Bowes Inc. is extending its international reach with the acquisition of assets of India-based Kilburn Office Automation Ltd. and the formation of a joint venture with Brazil-based Semco Participacoes Limitada (Semco). The two nations combined have mail volumes of about 23 billion pieces annually. In India, the new Pitney Bowes operation will provide mailing equipment and systems. The Brazilian operation will offer a wide range of mailing equipment, software and services, including production mail.

February 25, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has tentatively awarded new weekly cargo flights to four carriers currently serving the Chinese market under an agreement reached last year with the Chinese authorities. The new agreement provides for an increase in weekly U.S.-China flights for each country’s carriers from 54 to 249 over six years. Last year, the Department named Polar Air Cargo as the first new-entrant carrier under the agreement, and awarded additional all cargo flights to incumbent carriers FedEx and UPS."

February 25, 2005 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "FedEx Corp. and the largest U.S. pilot union are battling over the use of cockpit-voice recordings in employment disputes, with pilots accusing the company of misusing the information for disciplinary reasons."

February 25, 2005 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that:

• A report will criticise the government and Royal Mail for not doing more to secure the future of the loss-making post office network.
• Village post offices need to provide more services if the rural network is to survive, according to leading figures in the industry. While this could include serving as the village shop and bank, it could also include police and council services for which the government should pay, they argue. Rural post offices are threatened by the same long-term trends undermining other village businesses: migration to urban areas and a shift to supermarket shopping.

February 25, 2005 -- FedEx Freight, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., is making it easier for customers to access valuable shipping information through the Internet by enhancing its secure site for customer transactions with increased functionality and greater opportunities for customization.

February 25, 2005 -- DI-VE.com has reported that "A new International mail and parcel service offering speed and security has just been launched in Malta and Gozo by Maltapost plc. Aptly titled Maltapost Express International, this new service offers delivery to key worldwide destinations in the shortest possible time."

February 25, 2005 -- The Postal Service has issued two revised Customer Support Rulings (CSRs), PS-31 and  PS-91, in a series of new or revised CSRs that are intended to provide clarification concerning matter that may be eligible as Standard Mail or is required to be mailed as First-Class Mail.

February 25, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that "UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, said Thursday it plans to close its recently acquired freight sorting hub in Dayton in 2006, eliminating 1,400 jobs, in a move the company said would make its overall operations more efficient."

February 25, 2005 -- Nikkei has reported that "Postal privatization, which is set to begin in April 2007, will raise postal operations' annual profit by roughly 600 billion yen after 10 years, according to estimates the government provided during a meeting Thursday with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The estimates are aimed at allaying concerns among LDP lawmakers who oppose the postal privatization plans. According to the government's figures, the privatized postal entities will generate a pretax profit of about 1 trillion yen in fiscal 2016. This runs counter to some LDP members' contention that earnings will deteriorate after privatization and spur closures of regional post offices operated by independent contractors."

February 25, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "The government is considering keeping the number of post offices in less populated areas at the current level even after the state-backed postal services are fully privatized in 2017. The move is apparently in response to calls from Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to maintain the scale of the nation's network of about 24,000 post offices at the current level after privatization."

February 24, 2005 -- The Postal Service filed its latest negotiated service agreement with the Postal Rate Commission. This is a functionally equivalent NSA with HSBC North American Holdings (MC2005-2). You can view the entire NSA at the PRC's web site under Daily Listings for Feb. 23.

February 24, 2005 -- PostCom members can access the Powerpoint presentations from this week's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) meeting here.

February 24, 2005 -- USPS Chief Marketing Officer Anita Bizzotto this week announced at the MTAC meeting a new structure and focus for the MTAC organization. Bizzotto said that over the past year the Postal Service has been looking at all its mailer group activities and ways they can be improved. Read more about this and other news from MTAC in the PostCom Bulletin or the Post Ops Update, to be posted here soon!

February 24, 2005 -- USPS Vice President of Engineering Tom Day told MTAC attendees that the USPS is moving forward on schedule with its Flats Sequencing System (FSS) initiative. While Day did not say that the USPS has put on hold its Delivery Point Packaging (DPP) initiative, he said that the previous time line of a DPP production contract award in December 2008 likely is “a bit aggressive.” “We are now in a position,” Day told mailers, “where FSS is getting out in front of DPP.” “The development, schedule and timing for FSS are moving along as we anticipated,” Day reported, “but DPP is moving more slowly, which is causing us concern as to what the right next step for DPP is.” Read more about the USPS' status report on FSS/DPP in the next issue of PostCom's Post Ops Update -- to be posted here soon!

February 24, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri (Japan) has reported that "The government and the ruling parties have started considering greatly extending the current Diet session in order to pass a set of bills on postal privatization, sources said Thursday. As the submission of the bills to the Diet likely will be delayed to April or even later, they judged that it was necessary to have enough time for deliberations on the bills by extending the session, which is currently scheduled to close on June 19."

February 24, 2005 -- According to PostCom President Gene Del Polito, if there are any bogeymen haunting the halls of the 109th Congress as the postal reform debate gets under way, you can be sure that the "bogeyman doesn't wear brown."

February 24, 2005 -- As Reuters has noted, "Despite concerns rivals are gaining ground, United Parcel Service Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eskew said on Wednesday he was optimistic about the package deliverer's growth prospects in 2005."

February 24, 2005 -- As Circulation Management has noted, "The US Postal Service sent out 350,000 copies of a custom 32-page bi-monthly magazine titled Deliver to a targeted circulation of CEOs, corporate marketers and their creative agencies. The new title focuses on the power of direct mail and the editorial targets corporate marketers at companies such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather. The postal service owns the magazine and is responsible for editorial content. However, it will be published six times yearly by Campbell-Ewald Publishing, Detroit. It costs, on average, about 18 cents to send a letter at bulk rate, compared to an outbound e-mail which costs as little as half a cent to deliver. With this knowledge and being in the business of selling postage, Deliver is the Postal Service's tool to drive the technique. The launch comes at a time when companies have increased options of where they spend their marketing dollars. Advertising methods such as word-of-mouth and event marketing are taking off and USPS doesn't want to get lost in the mail."

February 24, 2005 -- The Belfast Telegraph has reported that "The decision to end Royal Mail's 350 year monopoly on mail delivery has raised concern for the future of the rural postal service in Northern Ireland."

February 24, 2005 -- As The Edge Daily has noted, "Last week, Pos Malaysia announced that it had been given permission to raise postal tariffs for commercial mail, effective March 2005 and the first increase since 1992. First, there will be a reclassification of the current letter, printed matter and small packets categories to standard mail, non-standard mail and periodicals. Definitions of aerogramme, postcard and parcel remain. The basic rate for standard mail remains at 30 sen (under 20g), but those weighing 20-50g have been raised from 35 to 40 sen (up 17%). Rates of local non-standard mail have been raised more significantly. The changes may appear small, but from their low base, the percentage changes are actually quite large -– from 14% to 50% for light commercial mail and up to 92% for bulkier ones. Commercial mail under 100g (example bank statements, bills) will be raised between five and 25 sen (14% to 50%), but those above 100g remain unchanged. Commercial samples, addressed catalogues and pamphlets are up between 15 sen and 50 sen (42% and 30%) while heavy items, such as books, weighing 0.5kg to 2kg – up between RM1.30 and RM2.30 (85% to 92%)."

February 24, 2005 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "Mike Eskew, chief executive of UPS, told business leaders on Wednesday that they need to do a better job promoting the benefits of global trade. Eskew, speaking to a Commerce Club gathering in Atlanta, said the anti-globalization movement has been able to one-up the U.S. business community by tenaciously pushing its message."

February 24, 2005 -- MalaysiaKini has reported that "It is never enough, it seems - especially when one is consumed by greed. Aliran is disturbed that Pos Malaysia has decided to increase postal rates despite sitting prettily on a huge cash stockpile and earning sizeable profits. This privatised firm actually has an astounding three-quarters of a billion ringgit stashed away in cash or near-cash assets. In addition, Pos Malaysia is believed to earn some RM90 million ringgit annually in commissions for acting as a collection agent for bill payments on behalf of various firms. Not surprisingly, Pos Malaysia posted a net profit of RM 61 million for the nine months ended September 2004 - an increase of more than 40 per cent from the corresponding period in the previous year. It is projected to earn a net profit of close to RM100 million this year based on existing postal rates."

February 24, 2005 -- ePolitix.com (U.K.) has reported that "The future of post offices remains uncertain despite continued financial support from government, a new report from the National Audit Office has revealed. The report looks at the problems facing post offices, particularly how changes to pension and benefit payments and customer shopping habits have left many struggling financially."

February 24, 2005 -- According to the Edmunton Sun (Canada), "Closing rural post offices could signal a death knell for small towns, warns the union that represents posties working in the countryside. "It's really important to rural Canada to have these places. It keeps us alive," said Lana Slowsky, vice-president of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association, which represents 6,600 rural postal workers."

February 24, 2005 -- Bloomberg has reported that "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he will work out a plan to reform the country's postal service with the ruling party. Koizumi and his own Liberal Democratic Party are proposing competing plans to privatize the postal service. Koizumi told a group of reporters in Tokyo that the government hopes to come up with a final plan as soon as possible."

February 24, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "The Italian government yesterday made clear it would press ahead with the privatisation of Poste Italiane, the state-run postal services and banking group."

February 23, 2003 -- In an update on the USPS' preparation of its "PL-108-18 rate filing," USPS Chief Financial Officer Dick Strasser told MTAC attendees that if there were no escrow, the USPS would not need a rate increase in 2006.  "We forecast that we would break even in 2006 without the escrow," he said.  Strasser said that the proposed rate increase would be "across the board," with only minor adjustments for rounding.  The USPS is counting on a settlement by the parties, he said, and an expedited process.  Strasser said it is his understanding that the Postmaster General's promise of no rate increase until 2006 still holds.

February 23, 2005 -- Suddeutsche Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, is planning to discontinue training for the traditional 'postman' with effect from the autumn of 2005. Instead, it will provide training for courier, express and parcel forwarding staff."

February 23, 2005 -- Die Welt has reported that "Deutsche Post, Germany's national postal services provider has lodged a complaint against the German anti-trust authority. The authority wants the postal market in Germany to become more liberalised and has therefore said that Deutsche Post can enjoy its current monopoly only until 2007. In order to open up the market, the authority has demanded that Deutsche Post allow competitors to carry out activities such as collecting, sorting and delivering letters that are under 100g in weight."

February 23, 2005 -- ACHRNews has reported that "Honeywell announced that the U.S. Postal Service in Southern California has awarded the company $20.6 million in contracts for building and energy-retrofit improvements, as well as the development of a cogeneration system. The projects began in late December and are expected to be complete in approximately 12 months."

February 23, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said his government is considering selling more shares in power company Enel SpA (EN) and privatizing postal service Poste Italiane to cut Italy's huge debt."

February 23, 2005 -- LibDems.org (U.K.) has reported that "Commenting on the news that the UK's postal services market is to be fully liberalised 15 months earlier than planned, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Malcolm Bruce MP, said: "In the face of viable competition the choice will be a simple one for the Royal Mail: improve performance or lose customers. In a liberalised market Royal Mail has a good chance of retaining its dominant position, but it is right that this is achieved through good performance instead of a centuries-old monopoly. "Royal Mail will have to become much more efficient if they are not to fall victim to cherry-picking by competitors. They will also need to invest in technology to ensure they are competitive and able to deal with restrictive practices such as the wildcat strikes that have been so damaging in the past. In the new climate of competition this could lead to an accelerated loss of jobs. "The priority of the regulator will be to ensure the introduction of competition does not jeopardise the universal service obligation or erode the provision of postal services to remote and rural areas."

February 23, 2005 -- According to the Associated Press, "Employees at a U.S. postal facility that processed anthrax-laced letters told researchers they failed to get adequate information during the 2001 attacks, several comparing themselves to blacks who were denied treatment during the government's notorious Tuskegee experiments."

February 23, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal) has reported that:

• As expected, Deutsche Post has appealed against the German Cartel Office's decision that Deutsche Post discriminates against competitors in the field of so-called consolidation activities (CEP News 07/05). CEO Klaus Zumwinkel said the appeal was directed mainly against the immediate execution of the Cartel Office decision. Summary proceedings meant that a decision by the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court could be expected shortly. However, the Federal Council pronounced itself in favour of all postal service providers in Germany being allowed to collect, sort and feed mail into the postal system. An amendment to the Postal Act will make this possible.
• Last week's presentation of the German regulatory authority's (RegTP) annual report revealed a stagnant mail market turnover at around 10bn euros in 2004. Private competitors enjoyed a noticeable increase in turnover from 388m euros (2003) to 514m euros. RegTP said the figures did not indicate the presence of a functioning and equal competitive situation. `Germany - as well as all other European countries - is still far away from that situation', said RegTP president Kurth in Bonn last Wednesday. RegTP still acknowledged that private operators had made 'a considerable contribution to unemployment reduction' by creating more than 37,000 new jobs in the last few years.
• According to CEO Klaus Zumwinkel, Deutsche Post AG got off into the current year according to plan. On Tuesday Mr Zumwinkel told journalists there had been no major surprises. However, the loss-making business of DHL in the USA had improved at the beginning of the year. The first six weeks of 2005 had seen very `attractive growth rates' - partly two-digit figures - in terms of turnover and yield.
• UPS is launching a new marketing campaign, `Deliver More', which emphasises that the company can perform more than plain parcel services. On Monday, UPS announced that the campaign would start this week and advertise additional services in up to 104 countries worldwide.
• Magyar Hirek - Hungarian edition; this title represents a milestone in the history of the CEP News. For the first time this week, we will publish a separate Hungarian supplement, to be followed by fortnightly news from one of Eastern Europe's most important and expansive markets. The `CEP News - Magyar Hirek' will be published in a parallel Hungarian and English edition. Subscribers to the German and English versions of the CEP News can obtain the Hungarian edition at a reduced rate as part of their existing subscription. MRU managing director Horst Manner-Romberg is optimistic that the news letter, which is compiled in conjunction with a Hungarian partner, will offer items of great interest not only to companies and publishers in Hungary but to any West European operator with ambitions linked to the Hungarian market.

Don't be satisfied with a less than complete report on the courier, express, and postal market in Europe. Get your subscription to CEP News, today..

February 23, 2005 -- Window Book, Inc., a company that specializes in postal shipping, manifest mailing and Delivery Confirmation® software, promoted Lisa Bowes of Old Saybrook, CT to Mailing Systems Product Manager and Teresa Tabor of Somerville, MA to Shipping Systems Product Manager. Both will oversee product direction, client interface, technical sales support, and training programs for mailing and shipping software, respectively.

February 23, 2005 -- The U.S. Postal Service has posted its January financial reports on its web site.

February 23, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice today announced the results of a joint investigation which generated more than 200 arrests and other enforcement actions against scam artists who turned the American dream of running a small business into a costly nightmare."

February 23, 2005 -- According to the News-Press, "They don't drive a mail truck. They don't wear a uniform. They don't have regular delivery routes, but they know all the faces behind the names on the letters they deliver. They are rural letter carriers and an important asset to the United States Postal Service and residents working very long hours and driving many miles to fulfill the U.S. Post Office's mission of delivering the mail come rain, snow, sleet or sunshine. "They are the backbone of the community," said David Barr, postmaster at the St. James City post office. "They tie it all together."

February 23, 2005 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation has tentatively authorized UPS to expand its air operations to and from China.

February 23, 2005 -- The Norway Post has reported that "The Norwegian Postal Service (Posten) more than doubled its pre-tax profits last year, from NOK 456 million in 2003 to NOK 1.1 billion in 2004."

February 23, 2005 -- Le Figaro has reported that "The management and unions of the French post office, La Poste, yesterday concluded a framework agreement concerning training for postal workers for the next three years."

February 22, 2005 -- The Washington Post has reported that "Three years ago, Postmaster General John E. Potter jettisoned a controversial bonus program for executives and began steering the U.S. Postal Service toward a pay-for-performance system. The first round of results is in, and Potter likes what he sees. "People understand their goals. They recognize that their performance affected the outcome. People are motivated to continue improving," he said in a recent interview at his office."

February 22, 2005 -- Brunei Online has reported that "In an effort to raise awareness on the proper way of labelling postal addresses, the Postal Services Department held a briefing at the Ministry of Communications yesterday afternoon. The briefing, which was the first of many programmes scheduled to take place during the 'Correct Mailing Address' campaign, was attended by around 30 representatives from both the public and private sector. In order to help the Mailing Service Department deliver letters or mail efficiently, the public should put down the correct address and postcode in legible handwriting with the right amount of stamps, according to Awang Haji Azahari bin Mohd Ali, the Acting Postmaster General of Postal Services Department. He also urged the public to place their post-box at suitable locations of the house where the postmen could put the letters in, adding that the post-boxes should be of proper size."

February 22, 2005 -- The Asahi Shimbun has reported that "The government will scrap or sell 120 money-losing hotels and leisure facilities operated by Japan Post within five years after the organization is privatized in April 2007."

February 22, 2005 -- ComputerWorld has reported that "German postal company Deutsche Post and software company Adobe Systems have teamed to develop a new Web-based postage service, Stampit Web, that allows users to prepay and receive mail postage online. After purchasing stamps online, users receive the postage in the form of a PDF document, which they can print out using Adobe Reader versions 6.02 and 7.0 and affix to letters or parcels. The service, to be available later this month, is built on Adobe's LiveCycle software for generating "intelligent documents." These documents have the same look and feel as static forms but can also include important enterprise data and business logic to allow for prefilled information such as customer names or account numbers and automatic calculations, according to Adobe's Web site. What makes these forms intelligent is the ability to define business logic within the form, it said."

February 21, 2005 -- MediaWeek has reported that "Publishers are breathing a sigh of relief--but just a small one--with the news that the U.S. Postal Service may be considering a 6 percent periodical rate hike to take effect next January, rather than the 15 percent boost that had been expected."

February 21, 2005 -- As Union Network International has noted, "The Argentine government will keep postal service Correo Argentino under state control, reversing an earlier plan to re-privatize the company."

February 21, 2005 -- Die Welt has reported that "German postal services provider Deutsche Post is to offer its customers the chance to send a parcel for free to mark its 10-year anniversary as a limited company. DHL, the group's parcel delivery subsidiary, is to provide all 35 million households in Germany with a stamp enabling them to send a parcel, weighing up to 20kgs, for free on February 25 only. Households will receive the stamps within the next couple of days."

February 21, 2005 -- New Strait Times has reported that "POS Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd is expected to deliver higher dividend in 2005 due to its good earnings prospects following higher mail usage and postal rates."

February 21, 2005 -- MENA-FN has reported that "A separate company that will offer mailroom, networking and express mail services to corporate clients in Qatar is proposed to be established by the General Postal Corporation (Q-Post)."

February 21, 2005 -- DI-VE News has reported that "The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) ordered the postal assistance at Maltapost not to use a number of faulty tools handed over to them by the management. As a reaction, the company suspended the workers as they were advised not to report to work until the issue is resolved. UHM section secretary Jesmond Bonello said that Maltapost management and representatives of the Union Haddiema Maghqudin are currently meeting in an attempt to solve the issue. He said that the workers were asked to use carriers without breaks, thus putting their health at risk."

February 20, 2005 -- The Jerusalem Post (Israel) has reported that "Domestic Postal Authority customers who want guaranteed delivery within one business day can now get that service, if they pay for it."

February 20, 2005 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that "Royal Mail has said it should be given more freedom from regulations so that it can properly compete in a liberalised postal market. Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, said the group should be allowed to react to the new market without the "handcuffs" of regulation. The state-owned group gave a cautious welcome to the announcement by the regulator Postcomm yesterday that the postal market would be fully liberalised from the start of next year, bringing it forward from the original date of April 2007."

February 20, 2005 -- The Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock wrote: "In recent weeks, we've highlighted once again how double- and triple-parking, and illegal parking in curb lanes during rush hours, are major reasons for downtown gridlock. Although I've given up on the city's law-enforcement arms doing anything about illegal parking, perhaps we can make some progress with chronic individual violators. Now Let's start with the delivery vans. UPS, FedEx and the U.S. mail, you have told me over the years, are habitual violators, some blocking a lane in the same place every weekday. Those drivers seem to think nothing of blocking a lane of rush-hour traffic to make pickups and deliveries."

February 20, 2005 -- The Telegraph (U.K.) has reported that "Postwatch, the independent consumer watchdog for postal services, has warned that genuine competition to Royal Mail's monopoly will fail unless Postcomm, the regulator, takes a more active role in opening up the market."

February 19, 2005 -- As Investors Business Daily has noted, "Six years ago, retail gurus saw the Internet as the death knell of catalogs. Their thinking: Why bother issuing catalogs, which are costly to print and mail, when it's so cheap to showcase goods online? As it turns out, their reasoning was wrong. The Web has actually helped breathe new life into the direct mail-order retail business. And the catalog hasn't disappeared. Catalogers have embraced the Web as a complementary sales and marketing venue. They see it as a way to reach more consumers and drive incremental sales. By selling and promoting their goods both online and through catalogs, players have been able to connect more effectively and more often with existing consumers — and offer them a lot more convenience to boot. They've also been able to cut costs, provide better service and better manage customer relationships."

February 19, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri (Japan) has reported that "The government has unveiled its outline of bills for privatizing the country's postal operations, which will oblige the state to sell two-thirds of its stake in a proposed postal services holding company by the end of March 2017."

February 19, 2005 -- GovExec.com has reported that "The White House might compromise on postal overhaul legislation in time to avoid a looming double-digit rate increase, sources say. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., the chief proponents of last year's bill, are leaning toward backing administration requests intended to provide financial transparency, according to Senate aides. In exchange, they said, the White House might allow more flexibility in allowing the Postal Service to tap a retirement escrow account that the Postal Service contends is overfunded. The White House has opposed that approach, as well as the way the bill shifts the cost of military pensions to the Treasury Department."

February 19, 2005 -- The BBC has produced a question and answer piece on Royal Mail's upcoming deregulation.

February 19, 2005 -- icWales has asked: "Postal competition: choice of chaos?"

February 19, 2005 -- The Imphal Free Press (India) has reported that "Despite the advent of internet and e-mail and traditional mail being occasionally termed as snail mail, the importance of the latter is still enormous even in today’s IT enabled society. The importance of mail is often enhanced with the introduction of fast services such as the EMS speed post by the government postal services. Till date, the EMS speed post is the fastest service offered by the Indian Postal Service for fast delivery of mailed goods. And sure enough, the service provider should be availing the services of the best of its employees for the best service it provided to its citizens. However, incompetent and inefficient management of such important service by the agency, has subjected the public to dismal situations as deadlines are often missed due to late delivery."

February 18, 2005 -- ComputerWeekly has reported that "DHL Global Mail has implemented the Salesforce.com subscription-based customer relationship management (CRM) package for its international operations."

February 18, 2005 -- According to Hoovers, "Local unions, including those representing north country teachers, are urging members, families and friends to avoid using the U.S. Postal Service's "Automated Postal Centers," concerned that human tellers could be replaced by technology."

February 18, 2005 -- Direct has reported that "Mailer groups are more outraged at Congress than at the U.S. Postal Service for saying it would file a postal rate case to cover employee pension obligations that were previously lifted.

February 18, 2005 -- The Sun Sentinel has reported that "International delivery giant DHL, which runs its Americas operations from Plantation, on Thursday unveiled plans for a $107 million distribution hub in Pennsylvania for the U.S. East Coast."

February 18, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc. Chief Executive and Chairman Michael Eskew said on Thursday the company still had some work to do on its new technology aimed at saving time and money by making package delivery more efficient."

February 18, 2005 -- ePolitix.com has reported that British "Unions have condemned as "ill advised" a decision to open the postal services market up to full competition from next January."

February 18, 2005 -- Politics.co.uk has reported that:

• Consumer group Postwatch today said the decision to fully liberalise postal services would re-enforce, not undermine, a universal delivery service, adding that the main threat to daily collection and delivery at a standard price was the inefficiency of Royal Mail.

• The Green Party said today that completely liberalising the postal market would provide “rich pickings” for big companies when all Britain really needed was one mail system that worked properly.

February 18, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "the postal market is to be fully liberalised from the start of next year, more than a year earlier than planned, in an effort to force Royal Mail to improve its customer service. Postcomm, the postal regulator, said yesterday that any licensed company would be allowed to operate in the mail market from January 1 next year. Royal Mail currently has a market share of 99 per cent. The market was to be opened in April 2007, but last September the regulator indicated this would be brought forward. The country's parcel delivery market is already fully liberalised." See also The Independent, BBC,  ITV.com, Forbes and Bloomberg.

February 18, 2005 -- According to Forbes, "Pitney Bowes throws off lots of cash but hasn't yet figured out what to do with it."

February 18, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: 

• The nation's leading mailing industry trade show -- the National Postal Forum -- has dramatically increased the educational opportunities for those who will attend its 2005 event in Nashville, TN, March 20-23, at the Opryland Convention Center. The offerings include more than 100 workshops, 5 all-day symposiums, and a Postal Service-issued training certificate program with 11 areas of discipline.

• RightNow(R) Technologies, a leading provider of on demand CRM software solutions, today announced New Zealand Post's document solutions subsidiary, Datamail, has deployed RightNow Sales(TM) to streamline and optimize core sales processes -- from forecasting and opportunity management to proposal and bid generation. Datamail is a RightNow solutions distributor in New Zealand."

February 18, 2005 -- The Financial Express has reported that "In a move that will have serious implications for the Rs 2,500-crore courier industry, the United Progressive Alliance government has revived the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2002 that seeks to regulate private courier and express companies."

February 18, 2005 -- According to Aliran Online, "It is never enough, it seems - especially when one is consumed by greed. Aliran is disturbed that Pos Malaysia has decided to increase postal rates despite sitting prettily on a huge cash stockpile and earning sizeable profits."

February 18, 2005 -- According to the CommentWire: "Royal Mail, the state-owned operator of the UK's postal service, has posted one of its best service quality performances in years. The group has recently managed a remarkable financial turnaround but has had problems with deteriorating service, which has eroded public confidence in the institution. Royal Mail must keep improving though, with liberalization in the mail sector fast approaching."

February 18, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "An over-the-counter postal services company, to be created through the privatization of state-backed Japan Post, will operate post offices like convenience stores and will offer friendly services to local people, according to proposed government legislation made available on Thursday. Post offices will offer services on behalf of a mail delivery company, issue certificates for local governments and sell tickets for events."

February 18, 2005 -- The Worcester Telegram has reported that "Stamps.com Inc. shares climbed Thursday, boosted by strong fourth-quarter results reflecting a surge in the company's core PC Postage business."

February 18, 2005 -- NorthCentralOhio.com has reported that "Continuing the high standard of mail service and preventing the loss of jobs was the message that rang out loud and clear at the post office rally in Mansfield Wednesday. A proposal to move first class mail processing operations from Mansfield to Akron faced even more opposition as community leaders, postal employees and area residents took part in a rally outside the Mansfield Main Post Office on Diamond Street to protest the U.S. Postal Service moving ahead with the proposal."

February 17, 2005 -- At its open meeting in Florida today the Postal Service Board of Governors directed management to prepare a filing with the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) to cover an escrow requirement of $3.1 billion resulting from changes in the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act of 2003. The escrow must be established by Sept. 30, 2006. In his comments BOG Chairman Jim Miller said the USPS would file this rate case as soon as possible. He gave no further details on when the case would be filed or what it would seek in a revenue requirement. In addition, the Board received the USPS' First Quarter results which included an increase in mail volume and net income of $1.7 billion. The largest increases in volume came from the financial and catalog sectors. The 5.5% increase is the highest quarterly volume growth in 15 years. November's volume was up 15% compared with the previous years. Volume growth in October and December were both less than 2% compared with 2003 volumes. For the First Quarter, revenues of $18.8 billion and expenses of $17.1 billion produced a net income of $1.7 billion, down from $1.8 billion last year. Revenue grew by 3.2 percent during the period. The Board approved the filing of the Postal Service's fourth NSA. The agreement has three main features: it provides incentives for the customer to send additional First-Class Mail, ensures that the customer will maintain superior mail quality practices, and produces cost savings for the Postal Service from the customer agreeing to receive electronic information about undeliverable mail instead of having pieces physically returned. The Board set an April 1 implementation date for NSA with Bank One Corporation. The Board will ask the PRC to reconsider its decision to limit the total amount of discounts available to Bank One under the NSA, and provide guidance as to what standards must be met to avoid a cap in future cases." See also the report by the Associated Press.

February 17, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

• FedEx Express has commenced operating regular flights into the new Central Japan International Airport located in Nagoya. The flights will enable FedEx to better serve the Chubu region, a major manufacturing centre.

• DHL has won a new contract with cosmetics manufacturer Caboodles for distribution in US, Canada and UK.

February 17, 2005 -- Logistics Management has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has reeled in two unlikely users for its "Parcel Select" service, the package-delivery program designed to take large-volume shippers and consolidators "the last mile" at an economical price. Over the past few months, UPS and FedEx have been testing Parcel Select and are now rolling out economy products of their own that incorporate the service for deliveries to the front door. That allows the carrier giants—acting as consolidators—to offer inexpensive products aimed at large-volume customers that don't need expedited delivery."

February 17, 2005 -- The agenda for the February meeting of the Postal Service's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee has been posted on this site.

February 17, 2005 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "DHL plans to establish a new state-of-the-art distribution center on the East Coast of the United States.\ The company, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Post World Net, said it would disclose details of the project at a news conference Thursday. DHL expects to lose more than $600 million in 2004 and $369 million in 2005 in the U.S., where it has launched a costly campaign to compete with UPS and FedEx Corp. in the domestic market."

February 17, 2005 -- Kyodo has reported that "The number of parcels Japan Post delivered between last April and early this month has reached a record-high 184.97 million, breaking the previous record set in fiscal 1970."

February 17, 2005 -- The Bristol Press has reported that "The Senate held the first of a pair of hearings Wednesday on the question of whether to let Americans, in particular senior citizens, mail order prescription drugs outside the country in order to save money. Citing a government study completed last year, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona told senators that ensuring safety of foreign mail order drugs entering the U.S. would be expensive if not impossible."

February 17, 2005 -- New Strait Times has reported that "The new rates, which come into effect March 1, will see an increase of between five and 25 sen for bank statements, bills and direct marketing materials. Registered letters will see a 40 sen hike. Although Pos Malaysia managing director Datuk Ikmal Hijaz Hashim said the hikes would have minimal impact on the public as the base rate of 30 sen on standard domestic letters would remain the same, there was still the possibility that consumers would be affected. Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations adviser Datuk Dr Hamdan Adnan said anything that affected the business community would inevitably affect the consumers as well."

February 17, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "Japan Post said Wednesday its mail delivery service posted a 56.2 billion yen net loss in the April-September period of fiscal 2004. Japan Post blamed the sector's red ink on the growing number of people using email instead of ordinary postal services."

February 17, 2005 -- Brunei Direct has reported that "The Indonesian Postal Administration announced that postal services to Aceh and South Sumatra have been suspended until further notice."

February 16, 2005 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "The Botswana Postal Workers Union (BPWU) has resorted to legal action to force management to address the grievances of its members. The BPWU resolved last week to engage lawyers to address issues, it said the Botswana Post management has been ignoring for a long time."

February 16, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "FedEx Freight, the regional and interregional less-than-truckload (LTL) subsidiary of FedEx Corp. has expanded capacity at two key regional facilities in the mid-Atlantic region."

February 16, 2005 --The Manfield News Journal has reported that U.S. Representative Michael Oxley has asked for a second opinion on the recommendation to move first class mail processing operations from Mansfield to Akron. The Republican from Findlay wrote the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday, seeking its views on the report recently issued by the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service, which endorsed a move. Oxley's letter requested an overall study by the GAO of Postal Service operations in the northern Ohio district.

February 16, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Few markets are harder to open than postal services. Slowly but surely, e-mail, regulation, competition and market fragmentation are forcing national operators to rethink their models. Europe's pace is about to quicken. Denmark will soon announce the winner of a 25 per cent stake in Post Danmark, with Dutch TPG and Germany's Deutsche Post among contenders. Belgium wants a minority partner to modernise its service: TPG and France's La Poste are rumoured to be considering bidding jointly."

February 16, 2005 -- Transcontinental Inc. has announced the acquisition of the operating assets of JDM, Inc., one of North America's premier direct mail companies, by its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Direct U.S.A. Inc. This transaction raises Transcontinental Direct U.S.A.'s production capacity to more than 5 billion direct mail pieces annually while also adding JDM's state-of-the-art production and control systems, mailing logistics, and strong management team.

February 16, 2005 -- The Bangkok Post has reported that "In 2003, the UK merged two of its key watchdog agencies, the Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL) and the Independent Television Commission (ITC), along with three other smaller regulatory agencies into one super-agency, the Office of Communications or OFCOM. This super-regulator has had an interesting genesis, often itself being the focus of media attention rather than regulating the media."

February 16, 2005 -- The New Straits Times has reported that "Malaysia's postal rates for international mail, one of the lowest in the region, has been taken advantage of for "mail dumping." Pos Malaysia Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Ikmal Hijaz Hashim said that some foreign companies were using Malaysia as a transit point before re-mailing their letters to other countries."

February 16, 2005 -- GovExec.com has reported that "When the Postal Service decided to add functions to employees' Blackberrys, it turned to Peg Weir to make sure it was properly securing the wireless devices. As a result, when the new gadgets are rolled out next month, they will have internal controls in place, including password requirements and automatic timing out."

February 15, 2005 -- Staff from the Postal Rate Commission reviewed with PostCom Board members data concerning the Postal Service's great gains in total factor productivity and their recent financial good news.

February 15, 2005 -- Les Echos has reported that "La Poste, the French national postal services group, has reportedly formed a consortium with Dutch group TPG to put in an offer for a stake in the Belgian national postal services group. The Belgian government aims to sell 49 per cent of the Belgian group's capital to a foreign investor, in order to guarantee its restructuring. A list of candidates will be announced in March."

February 15, 2005 -- From the Market Wire: "Ipswitch, Inc., the leading developer of network management, messaging and file transfer solutions for small and medium businesses, today announced that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has purchased Ipswitch WhatsUp® for deployment in 180 mail processing and distribution centers across the U.S. The USPS plans to roll out Ipswitch WhatsUp in April. The network monitoring solution will ensure more efficient service in delivering 206 billion pieces annually."

February 15, 2005 -- From the Federal Register: "The Postal Rate Commission has filed a document that initiates the third in a series of rulemakings on procedures related to Negotiated Service Agreements. This proposal addresses rules applicable to Postal Service requests to extend or modify previously recommended Negotiated Service Agreements that are currently in effect. The changes, if adopted, will assist in clarifying the type of requests that qualify as extensions and the type of conditions that constitute modifications. DATES: Initial comments: March 14, 2005; reply comments: April 11, 2005."

February 15, 2005 -- According to Transport Intelligence, "DHL is to open a 6,000 square metre, express logistics centre in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), Dubai. Being built at a cost of US $3.5 million, the centre will be four times the size of DHL's current JAFZA facility. The new express logistics centre will act as a trucking hub, supporting DHL's Gulf-wide distribution network."

February 15, 2005 -- The Durham Herald Sun has reported that "Durham attorney Bill Olive doesn't like the U.S. Postal Service shredding mail it can't deliver. Olive recently got a letter from the Postal Service's Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta saying his letter could not be delivered and his check had been shredded "to protect [his] personal information." "When I read the letter, I said, 'Why did they have to destroy it?'" Olive said Monday. "Why didn't they just send it back to me? They had my address." "I think it is very dangerous," Olive said, "in permitting the federal government to make an accusation against a citizen and then have the audacity to destroy the only evidence that a post office customer has to refute the accusation. ... It sets a precedent for the federal government, in a much broader context, to destroy documents at will."

February 15, 2005 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Starting this week, the U.S. Postal Service will begin sending out 350,000 copies of a custom magazine that ballyhoos the power of advertising mail. The targets: marketing executives and ad executives at companies such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Home Depot and WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather. The direct-mailed plug for direct mail is part of the Postal Service's aggressive ad push to talk up the technique at a time when companies have more and more places to put their marketing dollars, as advertising methods such as word-of-mouth and event marketing begin to take hold. The Postal Service is ramping up its pitch to marketers because it wants deep-pocketed advertisers to make up for the decline of first-class mail, such as personal letters, which has been hampered by increases in stamp prices. In 2004, for example, the Postal Service shipped about 98 billion pieces of first-class mail, about one billion fewer than in 2003. By contrast, the service last year shipped 95.5 billion pieces of standard mail -- the class that includes direct-mail pitches -- up from 90.5 billion in 2003, according to the Postal Service's annual report."

February 15, 2005 -- The Washington Post has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service said it suspended shipments on American Airlines and US Airways because the mail consistently arrived late at its destinations. A spokesman would not give the dollar value for the contracts. American Airlines executives said they met with Postal Service officials yesterday to present a "detailed recovery plan," and US Airways said it was scheduled to meet with the agency today." See also the Los Angeles Times.

February 15, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that:

• Decision time is nearing for the next rate increase by the Postal Service. Postmaster General John Potter has promised that the price of mailing a letter won't go up until 2006. But with the complex procedures needed to raise prices taking 10 months or more, the agency will probably begin the process soon, perhaps in March or April. Complicating matters is the effort to get Congress to change the way the post office is regulated, including relieving the agency of billions of dollars in pension and escrow obligations. The board of governors of the Postal Service is likely to begin discussions of higher rates as soon as its monthly meeting, which occurs this week.
• The first round of sales of excess stamps at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum earned the museum $3.3 million, well above what officials had expected. The auction, held Saturday, sold about 35,000 revenue stamps. The museum had expected to bring in about $1.9 million from the event. Eventually the museum plans to sell 7.4 million revenue stamps, originally used to mark the payment of taxes on items like cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and playing cards. The stamps were donated to the museum by the Treasury Department when their use was discontinued. The museum is keeping the best stamps, donating some to other museums and selling the rest."

February 15, 2005 -- The Postal Service will unveil its new DMM 300 at the National Postal Forum, March 20-23. Look for four training sessions on the new DMM, which is the final chapter -- so to speak -- in the Postal Service's effort to rewrite the DMM in a more user-friendly format. Hard copies and CD Roms of the DMM 300 will be available at the Forum as will flat-rate Priority Mail boxes to ship them back to the office. Or, you can fill out an order form at the Forum to have a DMM sent to your office. In addition, postal officials will update mailers on the status of the new Pricing and Classification Service Center and the Centralized National Cases process at the session called "Understanding the New Pricing and Classification Service Center. See also the report by DM News.

February 15, 2005 -- The National Association of Postal Supervisors recently urged House and Senate Postal leaders to move expeditiously to pass postal reform legislation. NAPS joined with 131 other postal associations and companies in a February 5 letter from the “Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service” to Congress, calling for Congress to pass meaningful postal overhaul legislation.

February 15, 2005 -- The International Herald Tribune has reported that "The German cartel office has ordered Deutsche Post to stop hindering competitors from entering the pre-sorting business immediately, the competition watchdog said Monday, a decision that the mail and logistics giant said it would fight in court."

February 15, 2005 -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, is examining the possibility of submitting a formal offer for a stake in the Belgian postal service, which is still entirely state-owned. The Belgian postal service operator is searching for a partner in order to make progress with the modernisation of the company; Deutsche Post says that it will not be deterred by the fact that the state intends to maintain a majority stake in the company initially, and that issues such as the price and whether or not the acquisition would fit into the German group's strategy are more important."

February 15, 2005 -- The Jerusalem Post has reported that "Frustrated by long lines at the post office when you just want to pick up a package? The Postal Authority announced on Monday a new service, the Doar-mat, which will make your packages accessible outside 10 selected branches, with 100 more machines due to be purchased for other offices."

February 15, 2005 -- Tunisia Online has reported that "The Tunisian postal service has been recently awarded a grade "A" quality management certificate by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), writes Tunisian daily Le Temps. The newspaper says several UPU experts carried out audits in different Tunisian postal services including the use of Information and communication technologies during the previous year."

February 15, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "Canada Post today released the results of an independent evaluation of Lettermail delivery in Canada, and for the period between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004, the corporation achieved an on- time service performance score of 96.79 per cent against a target of 96 per cent."

February 15, 2005 -- The Malaysia Star has reported that "POS Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd will announce a plan by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pos Malaysia Bhd, to reclassify its domestic and international mail products. In a statement yesterday, the company said the move was in line with international best practices and to facilitate greater automation of its operations."

February 15, 2005 -- AFX has reported that "Pos Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd said its wholly owned subsidiary Pos Malaysia Bhd is raising the postal rate for business mail by 45 to 140 pct."

February 14, 2005 -- Globes Online has reported that "The Israel Postal Authority is launching a new automatic delivery machine (ADM) that enables automated, computerized package collection, any time of the day or night. Post office branch customers simply swipe their package notification slips through the ADM's optical scanner, and their package comes out. It takes just seconds for customers to collect packages from the new automatic delivery machines. There are no fees to pay, no branch opening and closing times, and the ADM saves customers from having to wait in line."

February 14, 2005 -- America’s largest bi-partisan women’s business group, Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), announces a sponsorship agreement with UPS to further empower growth opportunities for women-owned businesses and elevate their voice in the halls of Congress and the Administration. The sponsorship affords both parties a variety of collaborative opportunities to understand and support public policy that impacts the running and expansion of women-owned businesses and women in business. UPS will participate in several WIPP initiatives, including annual conferences, White House events, its Advisory Council and congressional leadership meetings. In an effort to assist WIPP members in running their businesses better, UPS – via an interactive link on the WIPP Web site – will share its knowledge and resources to support these female decision makers as they develop new market opportunities, access capital and stimulate business vitality in the U.S."

February 14, 2005 -- Financial Times Deutschland has reported that "The monopoly currently held by Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, on the market for the delivery of letters in Germany could be ended sooner than originally planned. At present, this monopoly is due to come to an end at the end of 2007. However, the upper house of the German parliament is to decide on Friday whether or not to push ahead a legislative initiative put forward by the German states of Lower Saxony and Hesse, which would involve the abolition of the monopoly at the end of this year."

February 14, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Pitney Bowes Inc. has announced that it has completed two transactions that extend its penetration and reach outside of the U.S. -- the acquisition of certain assets of Kilburn Office Automation Ltd. (Kilburn) in India and the formation of a joint venture with Semco Participacoes Limitada (Semco) in Brazil. Through these transactions Pitney Bowes is establishing direct sales operations in two of the world's top fifteen mailing markets, whose combined mail volumes are approximately 23 billion pieces annually."

February 14, 2005 -- The Gaylord Herald Times has reported that "The Gaylord branch of the United States Postal Service (USPS) is currently undergoing evaluation for potential consolidation with Traverse City or Saginaw for cost-effectiveness that may result in closing the local processing and distribution center that employs about 90 people."

February 14, 2005 -- Business Mailers Review has reported that:

• More than a year after the extended deadline for converting federal agencies from the Official Mail Accounting System (OMAS) to commercial payments, a number of agencies have yet to make the move. The transition is going about as quickly as was expected, Postal and General Services Administration officials told the Federal Mail Symposium meeting in Washington, DC, last week.
• USPS is currently engaged in active discussions with 29 companies for NSAs that are comparable to the Capital One deal.
• The Board of Governors will hear the Postal Service’s first quarter finances at its monthly meeting next week, Feb. 16-17 in Sarasota, FL. The board is likely to hear that the early part of the first quarter showed strong volume growth, but the momentum was short-lived, with First Class Mail volumes below the same period last year (SPLY) and January likely to be below SPLY as well. But should a larger gain in the early part of the quarter and a sizable increase in Standard Mail offset First Class volume declines, the quarter could show an overall gain.
• The Postal Service is clearly seething over the Postal Rate Commission’s latest proposal for defining “postal service” in a way that would bring some electronic services offered by USPS under PRC’s rate recommendation authority.
• The USPS has outlined a case study that shows where a points program mailing, such as for an airline frequent flyer, can be found to be part of an explicit advertisement and can directly relate to that advertisement.

February 14, 2005 -- The Scotsman (U.K.) has reported that "Letter deliveries have reached the best level for almost 10 years, the Royal Mail announced today. New figures showed that 91.9% of first class post and 98.5% of second class letters were delivered on time in the last three months of 2004. The organisation said every one of its 15 performance measures for letter and parcel services showed 'significant improvements'."

February 14, 2005 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "German postal-services and logistics company Deutsche Post World Net AG will have to allow more competition in the mail-sorting industry, the German Cartel Office said Monday. The Cartel Office found Deutsche Post must "not discriminate or handicap competitors who prepare and sort mail," a statement from the authority said. The cartel office said more competition is needed in picking up and sorting letters and delivering mail to Deutsche Post's mail centers. The office said Deutsche Post, through its system of rebate and allowance payments, hindered middle and small mail companies from getting established in Germany's mail market."

Be sure to get a copy of the latest Postal Rate Commission paper on the success of mailer worksharing.

February 14, 2005 -- As Business Week has noted, "Now you can use a camera phone to send picture postcards the old-fashioned way -- by mail. Cingular subscribers with newer Motorola phones can snap a picture, type in a short note and an address, and zip it off. For $1.99, Fuji Photo Film prints the card, affixes a stamp, and mails it anywhere in the U.S. Verizon has a similar deal with online photo service Shutterfly, but it works only with a Kyocera KX2 phone."

February 14, 2005 -- As the Journal of Commerce has noted, "Fifteen years ago there wasn't much to distinguish between the German and French mail monopolies, Deutsche Post and La Poste, as they faced the distant prospect of deregulation of the Europe Union's postal industry. Today, with deregulation just a few years away, the two appear to have very little in common."

February 14, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "The Argentine government will keep postal service Correo Argentino under state control, reversing an earlier plan to re-privatize the company."

February 14, 2005 -- DM News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is expected to announce today the launch of Deliver, a magazine targeted to C-level executives about direct marketing and advertising trends. The custom publishing vehicle has been in concept and development for six months. The 32-page magazine goes to a targeted circulation of 350,000 CEOs, corporate marketers and their creative agencies. It mails today. Deliver is published six times yearly by Campbell-Ewald Publishing, Detroit. The postal service owns the magazine and is responsible for editorial content. Research will be conducted during the first year to measure its success."

February 14, 2005 -- Asia Pulse has reported that "The [Japanese] government is proposing the establishment in fiscal 2006 of two firms that will serve as the core bases for privatization of the postal savings and life insurance services. Under existing basic guidelines for the privatization process beginning April 2007, Japan Post will be split into four entities that will each handle different functions: postal savings, postal life insurance, mail delivery and post office management. These guidelines also call for the full-fledged privatization of the postal savings and life insurance units by 2017. The government intends to include the contents of its latest proposals - which are based on the existing guidelines - in postal privatization-related bills scheduled for submission to the current Diet session."

February 14, 2005 -- According to International Freighting Weekly, "Parcel InterCity (PIC), a high speed rail freight project developed by DHL and Stinnes, has opened a new route between Unna in Westphalia and Wustermark near Berlin. Asimilar east-west PIC service between Cologne and Berlin was cancelled in October 2002 because of low demand. This time around DHL is adding the consignments of Optimus, a logistics group it is in the process of acquiring (IFW 10 Jan). The opportunity to combine loads made a "decisive contribution" to restarting eastwest services, DHL said. Optimus is the logistics subsidiary of retail group KarstadtQuelle."

February 14, 2005 -- Kent Online (U.K.) has reported that "Late delivery, earlier final collection times and unsorted mail being delivered to multi-occupancy buildings were just some of the concerns raised during an annual business briefing by the South Eastern Society of Chartered Accountants (SESCA)."

February 13, 2005 -- According to The Times (U.K.), "Direct marketing may not be as common here [Ireland] as it is in the UK or America, but that may soon change. Although there are no separate figures available for Ireland, anecdotal evidence points to the effectiveness of the medium. According to Euromonitor, the UK market for mail order and home shopping grew by 33% in 2003 to reach a value of nearly €17.55 billion. It considers direct mail the most effective form of marketing for this type of business."

February 13, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc. will not limit itself to small acquisitions if the right opportunity to expand its logistics businesses arises, Chief Financial Officer Scott Davis said on Friday. Future growth at the world's largest package delivery company will be powered by its international business and its supply chain solutions, or logistics, group -- which helps companies manage their goods as they travel from the manufacturer to the consumer with technology, freight forwarding and customs brokerage."

February 13, 2005 -- The Mansfield News Journal (OH) has reported that "The only way to save Mansfield's postmark may be direct intervention by a member of Congress, the president of the American Postal Workers Union local said Saturday. Karen See said she believes local residents have two weeks at most to dissuade the U.S. Postal Service from finalizing a decision to move first-class mail processing operations to Akron. She urged postal workers Saturday to encourage people to press U.S. Rep. Michael Oxley and U.S. Senators Michael DeWine and George Voinovich to oppose the change."

February 13, 2005 -- Kyodo has reported that "Kaoru Yosano, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, said Sunday the government and the LDP will start discussions on postal reforms this week based on the premise of privatizing postal services."

February 13, 2005 -- According to Japan Today, "Twenty-one percent of Japanese polled believe Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should seek to enact postal privatization bills during the current Diet session."

February 12, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In addition, a copy of the PRC paper on the benefits of worksharing is being distributed with the electonic and print copy of this Bulletin. 

February 12, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Make Valentine's Day very personal this year. Create and send your own card. Without leaving your home. When it's convenient for you. The United States Postal Service offers more than 50 different Valentine's Day cards, waiting online to carry individual messages and wishes. Cover designs are provided. The sender provides the sentiment. For those who may be a little tongue-tied, the Postal Service also provides some "suggested sentiments." Simply log on to http://www.usps.com/cardstore and start shopping. NetPost CardStore is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

February 12, 2005 -- Direct has reported that "If catalogers want to grow, they need to redefine themselves as multichannel marketers. Today's successful marketers are juggling a number of media channels -- including catalogs, e-mail, Web sites and e-mail -- as well as multiple order mediums, such as call centers, the Web, retail and mail."

February 12, 2005 -- Die Welt has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, is reported to be likely to face a prohibition decree by the country's antitrust authority this month to force it to begin opening up the market for preparation activities, such as collection and presorting, to rival companies. Neither Deutsche Post nor the antitrust authority has commented on the rumour."

February 12, 2005 -- The Bangkok Post has reported that "State-run Thailand Post Co has teamed up with the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (SMEP) to provide logistics and transport services for small and medium enterprises through its 4,000 post office nationwide."

February 12, 2005 --  The BBC has reported that "The postal service is suffering a "genuine crisis" and its future is under threat "as never before", the UK's biggest postal union has warned. The Communication Workers Union has called for an "honest" national debate on the future of Royal Mail, which it fears could be privatised."

February 12, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "The 2,500 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) working at Canada Post have accepted by a slim 55% majority the final offer tabled by their employer on December 17, 2004."

February 12, 2005 -- The Lakeland Ledger (FL) has reported that "Thousands of pieces of priority mail were destroyed in a truck fire on Interstate 4 Thursday night. A tractor-trailer, owned by Phoenix Transport and Services, was carrying about 3,600 priority packages mailed in areas of Tampa and Pasco County with ZIP codes beginning with 335, 336 and 346."

February 12, 2005 -- As noted by the Associated Press, among the spending programs that have been cut from the President's budget is the annual payment toward revenue forgone, the appropriation that compensates the Postal Service for providing free and reduced price services to the blind, nonprofit organizations, and local newspaper publishers.

February 12, 2005 -- The Cincinnati Enquirer has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has asked a federal judge in Cincinnati to force uniform rental company Cintas Corp. to comply with a subpoena issued last year for records in an investigation into alleged overcharges."

February 12, 2005 -- The latest issue of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. legislative update is available on the NAPUS web site.

February 12, 2005 -- From the eMediaWire: "The Smithsonian Institution has contracted with Third Wave Digital, an interactive exhibit and digital media creation firm headquartered in Macon, Georgia, to provide creative services for the National Postal Museum’s new web site. The National Postal Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990. Third Wave Digital was selected by the Smithsonian Institution to provide educational and entertaining information about postal history and stamp collecting in an intuitive, interactive, on-line format. The finished product also needed to adhere closely to the Smithsonian’s quality standards and be in keeping with the Postal Museum’s overall exhibit quality. Third Wave Digital responded with the development of an interactive, web-based, quiz game. The quiz game, entitled “Postmaster Challenge”, presents visitors with a popular game show quiz format complimented by postal images and custom graphics. The “Postmaster’s Challenge” can be played at www.postalmuseum.si.edu under the Activity Zone in the Game Room."

February 12, 2005 -- Since 1912, the United States postal system has fueled the public's keen interest in flight by issuing stamps with aviation themes. "Stamps Take Flight," an exhibition opening March 15 at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, uses stamps, original art, artifacts and other materials with air and space themes to illustrate the creative processes and printing techniques behind America's stamps. Materials from the extraordinary Postmaster General's Collection and other sources tell the story of several carefully selected stamps, each representing a major stamp printing method from engraving to holography. The Museum is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., in the Old City Post Office Building across from Union Station, and is open daily, except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information visit www.postal.si.edu.

February 12, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri (Japan) has reported that "The government Thursday disclosed its plans to ensure the same quality of service throughout the country once the postal services are privatized, including establishing a requirement for setting up post offices in remote areas."

February 12, 2005 -- Increasing its emphasis on mailing knowledge and professional training, the 2005 National Postal Forum will offer more than 50 new specialized attendee workshops, six new USPS-issued professional certificate categories and three first-time business tracks.

February 12, 2005 -- Bloomber has reported that "Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he may call a general election if he fails in the current Diet session to pass legislation to sell the nation's postal service."

February 11, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "During a recent visit to Singapore, Klaus Zumwinkel, Deutsche Post World Net’s Chief Executive, has given an insight into AsiaPacific’s strategic importance to the company and its plans for China, the fastest growing market in the region. According to Zumwinkel, by 2010 the region is expected to account for 20% of DHL’s revenues, a rise from the 11% which it presently generates. He identifies the main driver behind this growth as the removal of barriers to international trade and the out-sourcing of logistics by governments and companies. In order to take advantage of this opportunity DHL has already invested $1.4bn in the market over the past few years."

February 11, 2005 -- The Independent (U.K.) has reported that "POST OFFICE bosses came under fire for having fee-charging cash machines in their branches, after it emerged that consumers spend about pounds 10m a year withdrawing money from them."

February 11, 2005 -- According to the News Journal, "A U.S. Postal Service inspector general's report confirms what local post office workers had expected -- first-class mail processing should be moved from Mansfield to Akron."

February 11, 2005 -- The Asahi Shimbun has reported that "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was the target of criticism at a meeting of lawmakers who had previously wasted no time in lambasting his postal privatization plan. But at the Monday meeting, these Liberal Democratic Party members refrained from ripping apart the privatization plan. Instead, they reserved their criticism for the prime minister's headstrong attitude toward the issue. Although Koizumi is still taking heat, postal privatization now seems to be going ahead as the government and LDP lawmakers are moving closer to a compromise."

February 11, 2005 -- Bloomberg has reported that "Deutsche Post AG: Europe's biggest postal service will hold an investor day discussing with analysts and investors the integration of its DHL Express unit."

February 11, 2005 -- The BBC has reported that "German postal staff ensured a postcard to Adolf Hitler sent from England got to its destination, despite the Nazi leader being dead for 60 years. It was sent to "Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, Reichstag, German Parliament, Berlin, Germany", from an undisclosed address. Deutsche Post marked on the card that the address was incorrect and that the unidentified sender should be informed. Without referring to Hitler directly, it added future mail should be sent to the German Bundestag, or Parliament."

February 11, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "An Irish call centre subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net is to close with the loss of 70 jobs. The 24 hour contact centre operator, Pan European Communications, has been operating in the Shannon Free Trade Zone since 1998 but has been forced to shut down due to a difficult market environment and losses."

February 11, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "With the launch of fetch(TM), Canada Post addresses the problem with an original new approach. fetch is an innovative way to quickly seek the information a consumer wants while shielding them from other invasive advertising. Canada Post developed fetch to help consumers take control of how, when and where they interact with advertisers.

February 11, 2005 -- The Economic Times has reported that "Indian post offices are now looking at doing more than just selling postal stationary, booking registered articles or money orders. The department of posts has tied up with insurance, personal loan and mutual fund companies to sell their products."

February 10, 2005 -- The Inquirer has reported that "NEW ZEALAND Post has abandoned a trail that would mean that if kiwis suddenly found themselves spammed by paint companies, they could blame their postman. NZ Post created what amounted to a storm by wiring up their posties with wireless microphones to collect details on their customers as they do their rounds. In the end the PR storm was too windy and NZ Post pulled the scheme."

February 10, 2005 -- The Wharf (U.K.) has reported that "RESIDENTS are flocking to sign a petition calling for improved postal services on the Isle of Dogs. Tower Hamlets Councillor Alan Amos has collected hundreds of signatures from residents who are fed up with their post going missing." Wait, wait. Let me guess. "The dog ate my mail." Or, no, no...how about this? Mail on the Isle is going to the dogs.

February 10, 2005 -- According to Dow Jones, "Japanese postal reform minister Heizo Takenaka Thursday reiterated his view that the government's plan to privatize Japan Post is the best proposal available, but said he is willing to discuss maintaining universal services after privatization is complete."

February 10, 2005 -- The South Bend Tribune has noted that "Barbara Czarnecki, of South Bend, opened the envelope holding her license plate renewal form and was surprised to find that it included an advertisement for an auto insurance company. What gives? she wondered. The partnership is with Allison Payment Systems, an Indianapolis company, to produce and mail the vehicle registration notices to the state's motorists. "Advertising inserts from businesses owned and operated in Indiana will cover costs previously incurred by the bureau, generating savings to fund new programs and customer-service initiatives,'' according to a BMV news release."

February 10, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "The nation's largest mailing industry trade show, the 2005 National Postal Forum (NPF), will feature five day-long sessions specializing in marketing, packages, periodicals, printing, and mail research and intelligence. These cornerstones to the four-day Forum -- taking place at the Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, TN, from March 20-23 -- will feature expert panels, industry speakers and interactive discussions."

February 10, 2005 -- The CommentWire has reported that "United Parcel Service [UPS] has opened three new warehouse and distribution centers in China, and announced that it will open another 20 facilities in the country over the next two years. With its domestic package business currently stagnating, UPS is clearly determined to capitalize on the opportunities available in China - but it will not go unopposed by its closest rivals."

February 10, 2005 -- UPS has announced it will hire an additional 200 pilots to support the growth and expansion of its air business.

February 10, 2005 -- The Postal Service has issued another revised Customer Support Ruling (CSR), PS-159, in a series of new and revised CSRs that will assist in understanding the use of “personal information” in Standard Mail matter. This CSR provides a clear example as to whether the mailing meets the test for including personal information in Standard Mail or is required to be mailed as First-Class Mail.

February 10, 2005 -- PC World has reported that "If you think you're safe from identity theft, take your eye off your PC and make sure you know where your wallet is. That's because a new survey has found that you may have more to worry about from careless paper management than from evil online forces."

February 10, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "Nearly half of all U.S. adult Internet users now manage their bank accounts online, making banking the fastest-growing online activity. Forty-four percent of U.S. Internet users bank online, up from 30 percent two years ago, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said. The nonprofit group said banking has grown faster than any other online activity since it began measuring Internet use in March 2000."

February 10, 2005 -- The Irish Independent has reported that "CASH-strapped rural post offices will be lost to their communities unless the Government steps in with a rescue package to ensure postmasters and mistresses earn the minimum wage."

February 10, 2005 -- The Freeman (Philippines) has reported that "The Philippine Postal Corporation in Cebu City has been conducting an investigation on partly-torn or opened mails reaching the Cebu center following reports of lost cash sent through the post."

February 10, 2005 -- MENA-FN has reported that "Qatar's General Postal Corporation (Q-Post) yesterday signed a three-year agreement with the Al Jazeera Channel to provide all the packing and mailing requirements of the country's pioneering Arabic TV news channel. The deal was said to be the third of its kind which provides a comprehensive range of mail services to any local company, signed by Q-Post."

February 10, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "PostNet World Headquarters announced today that all PostNet locations will become authorized shipping centers for DHL, a worldwide leader in express shipping. This makes PostNet the only major player in the postal, business and communications services industry offering customers the choice of four major express shipping and mailing services. In addition to DHL, PostNet is an authorized shipping center for FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. PostNet has more than 500 locations throughout the United States, and more than 935 worldwide."

February 10, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi warned Wednesday of political upheaval if the Diet does not enact postal privatization laws during the ongoing session through June."

February 10, 2005 -- Government Computer News has reported that the "Industry Advisory Council and the American Council for Technology has named Online Customer Self-Service, a Postal Service program that lets users print postage-paid labels as one of the five top e-gov initiatives of the past year.

February 10, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal) has reported that:

• The upper house of the German parliament last week followed the initiative of federal states Hessia and Lower Saxony and advocated a complete opening of the German mail market from 1 January 2006. However, market experts are rather pessimistic about the chances of deregulating the market two years earlier than currently planned.
• Austria's Association of Local Governments has launched yet another attack on the planned closure of 357 post offices in March.
• Since the beginning of the year, Britain's Royal Mail has refused to accept mail from other post companies fed into its system via the disputed ETOE's (Extra Territorial Offices of Exchange). A company representative confirmed that the decision was based on a resolution by the 23rd UPU Congress, according to which consignments dispatched via an ETOE are not protected by UPU statutes, unless the receiving post company has explicitly agreed to receive them.
• EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes intends to pay more attention to the postal market.
• Wage negotiations have broken down between ExpressPost AG, a subsidiary of Schweizerische Post, and the trade unions. The union `Kommunikation' intends to call on the arbitration committee after the post refused to accept a proposed inflation adjustment corresponding to approx. 1.5% of the total wages and salaries, the unions announced on Friday.
• Schweizerische Post has declared its intention of maintaining its position on a deregulated market through performance improvement.

Don't be satisfied with a less than complete report on the courier, express, and postal market in Europe. Get your subscription to CEP News, today..

February 10, 2005 -- The Board of Directors of UPS, citing its confidence in the company’s financial position and prospects for growth, today increased the quarterly dividend by nearly 18% from 28-cents per share to 33-cents per share on all outstanding Class A and Class B shares. The Board also announced it had appointed John Beystehner, UPS’s chief operating officer and president of UPS Airlines, to serve as a director. Beystehner will replace UPS Senior Vice President Cal Darden who steps down from the Board on March 31.

February 9, 2005 -- As part of an aggressive effort to further link China to markets around the globe, UPS has opened three new warehouse and distribution centers in Shanghai, Suzhou and Futian and is executing plans to open another 20 facilities in major cities over the next two years.

February 9, 2005 -- The News Journal (OH) has reported that "The future of first-class mail cancellation in Mansfield, and the jobs that go with it, are still up in the air today. U.S. Postal Service officials canceled a planned 3 p.m. meeting today to discuss the proposed move of the work to Akron."

February 9, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal and logistics firm TPG NV (TP) is building a war chest to take advantage of upcoming consolidation in the European market. TPG said it's talking with banks to arrange a EUR1 billion credit line which will replace an existing EUR600 million facility. The company's already bid for 25% of Post Danmark and has Belgian and Austrian postal operations on its radar as Europe moves towards a fully opened market by 2009."

February 9, 2005 -- The Daily Herald (IL) has reported that "A postal courier was dispatched to Sycamore to deliver almost 2,000 water bills nearly a week after the Carol Stream mail sorting facility misplaced the postcard-sized notices."

February 9, 2005 -- According to Nikkei News, "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi downplayed on Tuesday the targeted submission by mid-March to parliament of a set of bills to privatize Japan Post in the 10-year period starting in 2007 amid tough negotiations with the ruling parties."

February 9, 2005 -- BruneiDirect has reported that "The Postal Services Department yesterday highlighted the correct use of postal address throughout the country in a project launched at the Yayasan Sultan Hj Hassanal Bolkiah foyer. The project was aimed at informing the public on the continuous effort the department makes in improving the address quality at residential areas, departmental stores, high rise buildings and so on. This is due to repeated and continuous improper writing of address by the sender, such as lacking the land lot, simpang number, road name, and using none or wrong postcode. This affects the delivery of letters to the required destination, and many important letters could not be delivered. The campaign also hopes to assist the department to facilitate the processing of letters through the proper house numbering system."

February 8, 2005 -- According to Nikkei News, "The chances of a truly beneficial privatization of postal services are receding quickly as the government grows increasingly willing to accede to the Liberal Democratic Party's demands for measures to strip the teeth from the government-drafted plan, which is already questionable in terms of effectiveness." Whoa! Change a few words here and there and it begins to sound like the U.S.

February 8, 2005 -- UPS has announced two new Web-based trade management tools that help businesses better manage their customs clearance process for package shipments. UPS TradeAbility(TM) helps international shippers quickly and easily identify specific country tariff codes to calculate duties necessary for customs clearance; generate cost estimates for duties, taxes and transportation, and locate compliance information for 34 countries. And Quantum View(SM) Manage, UPS's popular package visibility service, has been enhanced to help U.S. importers clear shipments into the country, audit cleared shipments for correct classification and electronically archive shipment data.

February 8, 2005 -- Kyodo has reported that "The government plans to have a postal savings bank and a postal life insurance company, which will be created through the privatization of postal services, farm out their operations to post offices across Japan in the first 10 years. The practice will be a requirement for issuing business licenses to the new entities so as to ensure the continuation of nationwide unified postal savings and life insurance services"

February 8, 2005 -- Shoppers hate the process of returning merchandise, but they do it routinely and frequently-to the tune of billions of dollars. Returns range from 5% in some industries to as high as 35% in apparel. You must deal with returned merchandise efficiently and quickly or your operational costs begin soaring. Returns processing is often termed the "dirty secret" of fulfillment, but there are many ways to minimize the downside of returned merchandise by getting returned orders refurbished, re-sold, or recycled. Learn more at http://www.opsandfulfillment.com/webinars/returns-management-webinar/index.html

February 8, 2005 -- Soooo, exactly how much is at stake with the imposition of the CSRS escrow in 2006. Take a gander at these numbers. If Congress and the Administration fail to eliminate the FY 2006 CSRS escrow, mailers will be paying out of pocket the tidy sums that follow for their respective fiscal years: for 2006 the amount would be $3.081 billion, in 2007 it would be $3.398 billion, in 2008 it would be $3.716 billion, in 2009 it would be $3.888 billion, and for 2010 it would be $4.174 billion. Over the period of 2006-2010, mailers will have paid out quite unnecessarily an additional $18.257 billion. For the full budget planning period of 2006-2015, the total would be $43.238.

And what would happen if the CSRS escrow IS abolished? Well, according to the President's budget, every penny scheduled for escrow would go toward paying the Postal Services's "substantial retiree health benefits liabilities." Not a dime would be used to pay back to mailers a bit of a rate stability dividend for all the years they've overpaid toward CSRS in their rates.

February 8, 2005 -- AMEInfo has reported that "A team of Emirates Post led by the Director General, Mr. Abdullah Al Daboos, recently visited Tripoli to enhance postal cooperation between Libya and the UAE."

February 8, 2005 -- DM News has reported that:

• The $2.5 trillion budget recommendation for fiscal year 2006 submitted to Congress yesterday doesn't include much of the funding requests submitted by the U.S. Postal Service last year. The USPS Board of Governors approved a request in September that included: $227 million for emergency preparedness funding; $108.5 million for free mail for the blind; and $29 million as part of the Revenue Forgone Reform Act of 1993. This debt repayment would be the 13th of 42 payments on more than $1.2 billion owed to the USPS. This request was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. In December, a final request was submitted to the White House from the OMB. It included only $61.7 million for free mail for the blind. This was the amount that was included in Bush's budget recommendation. Congress now begins its work on the budget.
• Legislation that would allow mail fulfillment service providers to continue pass-through reimbursements of postage expenses in Washington state without sales taxation was introduced last week. Democratic Rep. Patrick Sullivan sponsored House Bill 1785. In general, the bill would stop the practice of taxing bulk mail postage reimbursements because of legislation that passed in Washington in 2002. The 2002 legislation stems from an optional provision within the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement that requires mailing services providers to charge customers sales tax on the combined total of fees and postage.
• New York is one of 10 cities expressing interest in having postal workers deliver medicine to homes within 48 hours of a terrorist attack.

February 8, 2005 -- TruckingInfo has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has contracted to provide tracking for its vehicles and advanced RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) systems for its operations at up to 460 facilities over three years. N.J.-based I.D. Systems Inc. received the prime contract to supply wireless tracking for USPS vehicles. In turn, government technology contractor Unisys Corp. announced it has received a subcontract to provide a range of IT infrastructure services, including project management for USPS facility site surveys, systems design and implementation of I.D. Systems' RFID-based technology."

February 8, 2005 -- According to ComputerWeekly, "Although retailers are pushing the roll-out of radio frequency identification tagging, logistics companies are staying with barcodes until a profitable business case can be found."

February 8, 2005 -- The Media Bulletin (U.K.) has reported that "Magazine publishers have urged Royal Mail to become 'real partners' with the industry so each of their needs can be met, and called for the postal group not to introduce any surprise changes. PPA chief executive Ian Locks said that while the magazine industry understood Royal Mail's need to change, the industry did not like and was not equipped to deal with surprises."

February 8, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Registration for the first annual, three-day Federal Mail Symposium starts at noon today, as the symposium holds special networking sessions with U.S. Postal Service (USPS) national account representatives and security experts. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will display its vision for protecting the entire postal and shipping sector, along with a new, cost-effective pathogen-detection machine at the symposium, sponsored by the Interagency Mail Policy Council and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)."

February 8, 2005 -- As the Corvallis Gazette-Times has noted, "Postal Service letter carriers spend six hours a day delivering mail six days a week on 48 routes in Corvallis. That adds up to a lot of miles behind the wheel, but fortunately, it doesn't mean a lot of crashes."

February 8, 2005 -- Business World (Ireland) has reported that "The Labour Court will today appoint an "expert panel" in a new bid to cut through the complex web of labour problems at An Post."

February 8, 2005 -- Business Times has reported that "Pos Malaysia Bhd will invest RM200 million this year to improve customer services and transform the company into a customer-centric organisation."

February 8, 2005 -- Chennai Online (India) has reported that "The National Postal Joint Council of Actions yesterday served a strike notice to the Department of Posts in support of its charter of demands."

February 8, 2005 -- According to Hoovers, "United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (UPS) has posted an announcement that its daily international parcel volume had increased 5.6% in the fourth quarter last year."

February 7, 2005 -- A bill has been introduced in the New York Assembly (A.B. 1862) that would create a statewide do-not-mail registry for consumers that do not want to receive direct mail solicitations. The registry would also include e-mail addresses of individuals who do not wish to receive commercial e-mail solicitations.

February 7, 2005 -- USPS Board chairman James Miller told an audience of postmasters that it's important to recognize that the USPS must face some political constraints. The USPS, he said, should be operated as an efficient, effective, and customer-friendly organization. He said the issue of postal reform was still being discussed among the Governors and between the USPS and the Hill and Administration. Most importantly, he said the USPS needed more freedom to operate under the guidance of the BOG with greater freedom over the structure and pricing of its products without being nibbled to death in the process.

February 7, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal and logistics firm TPG NV (TPG) said Monday that it is in talks with banks to arrange a EUR1 billion credit facility."

February 7, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire:

• The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Sarasota, FL, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 1111 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Feb. 16 and 17, 2005.
• Unisys Corporation has announced it has received a subcontract to support prime contractor I.D. Systems, Inc. with wireless tracking of United Stated Postal Service (USPS) vehicles. I.D. Systems recently announced it had been awarded the USPS contract to implement its Wireless Asset Net(tm) industrial equipment tracking and management systems at postal facilities nationwide. The new system will help the USPS move mail faster through processing centers, enhance equipment safety, afford management greater visibility of asset utilization and location, and create efficiencies in the USPS supply chain.
• Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners L.P. (CVC) and IWCO Direct, the nation's leading provider of integrated direct mail production services and solutions, encompassing print, envelope, plastic, mailing and data services, announced today that CVC and the company's existing senior management team will acquire IWCO Direct from its current shareholders. The management team, led by Jim Andersen (President and CEO), Tom Wicka (Executive Vice President - Marketing & Sales) and Pete Karle (Executive Vice President and CFO) will continue to operate the company.

February 7, 2005 -- A panel of Washington postal geeks has opined before the National League of Postmasters that if a reform bill is not completed within the next 60-90 days, it just won't happen. By that time, they said, the postal debate will get lost in budget related issues.

February 7, 2005 -- In his talk before the National League of Postmasters, U.S. Postmaster General Jack Potter told his colleagues that getting the imposition of the CSRS escrow voided and turning back to the Treasury responsibility for military service retirement is absolutely key to the Postal Service's long-term viability. Beyond that, he said that getting the Postal Service some long sought regulatory flexibility over posta services and rates also was key. Flexibility, he said, may mean regulation, but the job of the regulator should be rates and fairness not second guessing how the Postal Service runs the business.

February 7, 2005 -- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said that passing a fair and comprehensive postal reform bill was at the highest of her legislative priorities.

February 7, 2005 -- UPS has agreed to acquire Messenger Service Stolica S.A., one of the leading parcel and express delivery companies in Poland.

February 7, 2005 -- As the Washington Post has reported that: 

• President Bush plans to unveil a $2.5 trillion budget today eliminating dozens of politically sensitive domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection and business development, while proposing significant increases for the military and international spending, according to White House documents. About 150 programs in all would be shuttered or radically cut back to help meet Bush's goal of shaving the budget deficit in half by 2009. One out of every three of the targeted programs concerns education. Medicaid funding would be reduced significantly and even major military weapons programs would be scrapped to make more resources available for the war in Iraq." Betcha there's no money in the budget for postal reform.
• Acoalition of the most conservative House Republicans, the Republican Study Committee, showed its clout by luring House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) to a retreat in Baltimore on Friday for luncheon remarks urging them to stick to their principles on budget and social questions.
• Gasoline prices rose more than 7 percent in January, which typically is one of the slowest driving months of the year. That is leading experts to predict pump prices may surge past last year's record highs when highway travel picks up late in the spring. And the impact on postal costs??

February 7, 2005 -- Postmaster General Jack Potter has named Delivery Operations Manager Michael Spates Acting Vice President and Consumer Advocate.

February 7, 2005 -- According to one writer for Wired, "It's been said that Americans will put up with anything - as long as it doesn't involve waiting in line. And as I wasted half a day mailing a gift this past holiday season, I asked myself why that sentiment doesn't apply to the US Postal Service. In the age of instant communication, with trillions of dollars crossing borders in nanoseconds and grandmas sending email, why do post offices even exist?" 

February 7, 2005 -- Federal Computer Week has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is running out of envelope real estate. Postal bar codes are filling up the limited space on the front of envelopes, said Charles Bravo, USPS' senior vice president for intelligent mail and address quality. A bigger problem is that the agency's automated bar code sorters are working inefficiently because individual pieces of mail have too many codes. Under a new policy, USPS officials have asked mailers to switch to a single bar code that will replace the more than 30 bar codes in use throughout the postal system. Mailers' use of the consolidated bar code standard will be voluntary. "We don't want anybody panicking," Bravo said. A complete transition to the single bar code standard, known as four-state, could take up to 10 years."

February 7, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "During a recent visit to Singapore, Klaus Zumwinkel, Deutsche Post World Net’s Chief Executive, has given an insight into AsiaPacific’s strategic importance to the company and its plans for China, the fastest growing market in the region. According to Zumwinkel, by 2010 the region is expected to account for 20% of DHL’s revenues, a rise from the 11% which it presently generates. He identifies the main driver behind this growth as the removal of barriers to international trade and the out-sourcing of logistics by governments and companies."

February 7, 2005 -- As the Herald News has noted, "Among the rows of busy loading docks, factories and warehouses on the edge of the Meadowlands, Pictorial Offset is churning out some of the finest print ads and junk mail you'll ever want to see. But don't call it junk mail, says managing partner Don Samuels. "It's junk mail only after it hits the garbage can," he said. The glossy, high-end advertising material the company makes seven days a week runs the gamut from direct-mail catalogs for fashion designers to Sunday newspaper inserts touting cellphone calling plans, to brochures for drug company salespeople to stuff in their satchels and deliver to doctors. Recently, in one 24-hour period, it printed and mailed 2 million postcards to targeted residences, fulfilling a rush order from a major auto manufacturer pitching a zero-percent financing offer.

February 7, 2005 -- RTE Interactive (Ireland) has reported that "Unions and management representatives at An Post will meet at the Labour Court today to negotiate the future of the postal service. The company wants to cut 1,450 collection and delivery jobs from the 5,000 work force. An Post also wants to reduce workers' overtime. In return it has offered a 5.35% pay increase that workers have rejected."

February 7, 2005 -- DM News has reported that:

• DMail and e-mail remain the workhorses of direct and interactive marketing in the United States and key markets overseas.
• The U.S. Postal Service is concerned about a provision of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement that requires mailing services providers in certain states to charge customers sales tax on the combined total of fees and postage.
• The U.S. Postal Service is fretting. Issues over its pension burden remain unresolved. Reform will be brought up again this year, but will it get through Congress? Higher postal rates are expected next year, but how big will the increase be? Whatever the amount, mailing plans stand to be affected.
• An informal survey of mailers and postal managers shows that an alarming number think that Congress’ failure to enact postal reform last year meant the death of postal reform for the foreseeable future. They are wrong. There are several reasons why it may pass, and why the issue remains the biggest factor determining the financial futures of everyone in the mailing industry.
• Will magazines keep slipping down the slope into oblivion or will they morph into a vibrant new communication medium capturing the engaged, active readers whom advertisers want? The answer may emerge this year.
• The decline in ad revenues over the past few years caused a shake-up in magazine titles and missions. The result is an advertising vehicle more finely tuned to its audience, more in touch with its own reader profile, whether mass market or niche. Last year’s many new magazines prove the popularity of the medium, and niche publications demonstrate how the market can be successfully sliced and diced.
• The cost of producing our product is going to go up, way up. First, printing prices will escalate. There are no pressman apprentices. That’s what I said, none. Printers will have to pay more for printing talent. Shipping prices also will skyrocket because the United States is currently 200,000 truck drivers short of our current needs. As the economy improves, we will see this shortage get worse.

February 7, 2005 -- The Irish Independent has reported that "AER LINGUS has rescinded its decision not to carry An Post mail to Britain and Europe and is continuing to ferry the post six days a week for the cash-strapped postal company."

February 7, 2005 -- The Weston Mercury (U.K.) has reported that "A postal strike was averted at the 11th hour after bosses and union chiefs hammered out a pay agreement. Managers and union officials were locked in talks for the whole day on the eve of a threatened 48-hour strike due to take place last weekend. The planned industrial action was the first of four such proposed strikes. The sticking point was a £26 per week wage increase that postal workers at the Warne Road office say they were owed from June 2004 for agreeing to do one delivery a day instead of two. Royal Mail was insisting that workers hit performance targets over four consecutive weeks to trigger the pay rise."

February 7, 2005 -- International Freighting Weekly has reported that "DHL has welcomed recent comments from FedEx chairman and CEO Fred Smith, in which he called for full liberalisation of EU-US air cargo markets. Smith used the launch of Airbus's A380 aircraft last month to encourage Europe to develop an EU-US bilateral agreement similar to that between France and the US. He added: "If full agreement is not possible at this stage, we would recommend that an allcargo deal be considered as an alternative first step." Monika Wulf-Mathies, MD for corporate public policy at DHL parent Deutsche Post, last week told IFW: "In the past, he has not seemed in favour of this. So this move is quite a surprising one, which we hope can be helpful towards achieving a balanced agreement between the EU and the US. " She said DHL had had quite a number of bad recent experiences in the US market over the past few years because of opposition from FedEx and UPS to liberalisation of US airline ownership rules. She said it was not clear whether Smith's comments represented a genuine change of direction for FedEx, or another act in the political war of attrition by casting the EU as the barrier to progress in liberalisation."

February 6, 2005 -- According to postal commentator Gene Del Polito, "As long as postal costs are predominantly driven by labor-related costs, and as long as the general drift in the cost of living in the 21st century is upward, increases in postal rates will continue to be part of your business way of life. What that means is that not only will you have to contend with some of the regulatory minutia which is the stuff of rate cases, but also that you will have to pay much closer attention to the things that you do that may be closely linked with the cost of postal services."

February 6, 2005 -- According to Chosen.com, "Shortly after the announcement that Gnassingbe Eyadema was dead, the armed forces chief of staff said on state media in Lome that 39-year-old Equipments and Postal Services Minister Faure Eyadema was Togo's new leader. He said the armed forces had been confronted with what he called a power vacuum. Under the constitution, the parliament speaker is supposed to take over, but the army chief of staff said he is out of the country. Land, sea and air borders have been closed until further notice."

February 6, 2005 -- IranMania has reported that "Iran's Minister of Economy and Finance Safdar Hosseini said on Saturday that beginning next Iranian year (March 21) the link between privatization revenues and government budget will be severed. According the Majlis proposal and amendment to Article 3 pertaining to the Fourth Five-Year Social and Economic Development Plan, the final price of oil derivatives as well as telecommunication and postal services will be calculated based on the prices set in August-September 2004."

February 6, 2005 -- The Sunday Business Post (Ireland) has reported that "An Post will soon be competing with credit unions when it starts offering a range of banking and financial services, if proposals by senior management are accepted by the board of the company."

February 5, 2005 -- Cellular News has reported that "Switzerland's Post Office is to issue the worlds first postage stamps with images sent in to it via camera phones using MMS. Swiss Post, Swisscom Mobile and the Museum for Communication in Berne are seeking the best motifs on the topic of "Swiss mobil - a country on the move". Owners of mobile phones with cameras can submit their pictures as an MMS from 1 February until 21 March 2005. The public will vote by text message to choose the top 100 MMS pictures by the end of March. A specialist jury will then select the four winning motifs from these entries. They will be issued as special stamps with face values of CHF 0.85, CHF 1, CHF 1.30 and CHF 1.80 and will be available at all post offices as of September. All the pictures will be shown on www.mms-stamp.ch"

February 5, 2005 -- In his latest article, DM News postal commentator Cary Baer said that "There is an old saying that is roughly paraphrased as “give a man a hammer, and everything he sees is a nail.” The majority of the people in both Congress and industry developing the so-called reform legislation have spent most of their careers dealing with regulations, either writing them, enforcing them or running trade associations in industries with a regulated monopoly, like the U.S. Postal Service. As a result, the legislation is just full of regulations involving the postal service’s ratemaking process. Concerns for the survival of the USPS based on rising labor costs and declining mail volume are the issues that caused the creation of the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service. These fundamental issues are not dealt with in the reform legislation that has been introduced. Instead, industry and congressional staff appear focused on micro-level issues such as how costs should be attributed to the subclass level. The No. 1 issue that reform needs to address is postal costs — not how they get attributed."

February 5, 2005 -- The Tribune Business News has done nice story on UPS' data center in Mahwah, New Jersey.

February 5, 2005 -- An interesting article in the Washington Post on the growing power of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with the Bush Administration. As the Post has noted, "The chamber is part of the so-called Gang of Six trade associations that are considered the president's most reliable supporters. They include the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Restaurant Association, NFIB and NAW."

February 5, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "DHL, the logistics arm of Germany's Deutsche Post, may raise its 5 per cent stake in Hong Kong-listed Sinotrans as it beefs up delivery operations in China. The company - which expects to report revenue growth of more than 50 per cent in the mainland this year - said that China Domestic, its domestic parcel service, was expanding its reach to 50 cities from the initial 16."

February 5, 2005 -- Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy) has reported that "The Italian post office, Le Poste, saw its mail volume rise by 10 per cent last year, to 7.2 billion items. At the same time, there was a double-digit increase in mail revenues, owing to growth in the most profitable segments of the market, such as direct marketing and commercial post. Le Poste has now decided to forge closer links with its French counterpart, La Poste, by making its unit-linked life assurance policies available in French post offices. At the same time, it has raised its stake in Aspheria, its joint-venture with La Poste, to 40 per cent. Aspheria manages the delivery of notifications of fines for traffic offences in France."

February 5, 2005 -- According to The Freeman, "The Philippine Postal Corporation has a tiny piece of paper tape that it uses to seal up "partly torn envelopes." This is perhaps the most abused piece of paper tape in the whole wide world. The tape does not really seal partly torn envelopes. It instead provides the official cover for what continues right to this very day as perhaps the most massive pilferage operation involving the mail of Filipinos. Almost every piece of mail that comes from abroad gets to suffer the violation of being partly torn, the postal thieves having grown adept at peeking what is inside them even through a deliberately inflicted "tear" just a few centimeters long. If there is money inside, then the addressee can kiss his mail goodbye. That envelope will never see the light of day again. And it is useless to complain because the post office has a built-in rule for just such a situation."

February 5, 2005 -- Kyodo News has reported that "The government said Friday the current postal finance service would be kept intact across the country during the 10-year privatization process of Japan Post, apparently to allay local concerns that unprofitable post offices might be closed."

February 5, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that "The government will require the two companies to be established after postal privatization to manage postal savings and life insurance services to entrust their business to another company that will manage a nationwide network of post offices, according to sources. The move is to guarantee universal services for the 10-year transition period for privatization starting April 2007."

February 5, 2005 -- The latest issue of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. governmental affairs e-newsletter is available online.

February 5, 2005 -- Traffic World has reported that "UPS is cutting costs and bolstering marketing efforts to strengthen its domestic business even as it adds capacity to support dramatic international growth."

February 4, 2005 -- di-ve.com has reported that "A good cross-section of various sectors of the local business community was given an overview of Maltapost's services and plans for the future during an annual meeting for business clients organised by Maltapost. Maltapost Senior Manager Marketing and Business Development John Agius gave a presentation outlining Maltapost's growing service-product portfolio in the context of the recent restructuring within Maltapost in order for it to better cope with today's market driven realities. Maltapost was now looking to move towards innovation and customisation, and was introducing technology to enhance its products and services. Besides traditional postal services, its retail outlets now offered bill payment facilities, postage paid envelopes, postage boxes and money transfers. Maltapost also offered addressed and unaddressed advertising mail services, and direct marketing with added value services for labelling, printing and folding. Maltapost offers a service in all of Malta and Gozo from its five Hubs, 31 Retail Post Offices, 20 Sub-Post Offices, some 500 stamp vendors and a strong courier van fleet. Indeed, Maltapost's local and international courier services provides clients with a cost-effective point to point delivery option."

February 4, 2005 -- According to Bloomberg, "U.S. employers added 146,000 workers in January, less than expected, a government report showed. The unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 5.2 percent as fewer people looked for work. ``We are always hiring people in the sales area and we expect if we can get some growth on our facilities management business to increase hiring in that space as well,'' said Michael Critelli, chairman of chief executive officer of Pitney Bowes Inc., in an interview. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company is the world's largest maker of postal meters and mailing equipment."

February 4, 2005 -- According to the Akron News Journal, "Postal workers believe the U.S. Postal Service will move first-class mail sorting from here to Akron. U.S. Postal Service officials "are feeding us the line that no official decision has been made," said Karen See, president of the American Postal Workers Union local in Mansfield. But, "they're moving furniture, and they're making plans so if the decision is made, they will be out in March," she said Thursday. A U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Cleveland said a decision has not been made. Post office administrators are expecting an inspector general's report on a move to Akron, said Victor Dubina, spokesman for the USPS. Postal officials said 16 noncareer positions -- jobs not permanently assigned in Mansfield -- would be cut by the move."

February 4, 2005 -- The Asahi Shimbun has reported that "Japan Post has stopped accepting coin deposits at many of its post-office ATMs after about 5,600 likely counterfeit 500-yen coins were found in the machines."

February 4, 2005 -- DM News has reported that "The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday affirmed a 2003 federal court decision that said it is unconstitutional for the Washington state Department of Corrections to throw away an inmate's mail because it was sent by bulk rate or because it offers something for sale. In 1999, the state Department of Corrections banned all catalogs and non-subscription bulk mail from its prisons." P.S. Don't expect many sales.

February 4, 2005 -- FedSmith.com has noted that "The man that helped design the current Federal Employees Retirement System that has received international attention as a potential model for the Bush administration’s plan to overhaul the nation’s Social Security program is now the acting director for the Office of Personnel Management. Office of Personnel Management Deputy Director Dan G. Blair officially took over as acting director at OPM effective Feb. 1, 2005 as the resignation of former Director Kay Coles James became official. Prior to joining the staff at OPM, Blair served as senior counsel to Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) on the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. He was appointed to this position in January 1998 and was responsible for review of legislation and policy affecting the federal civil service, the U.S. Postal Service, federal budget process, government ethics, and federal lobbying reform."

February 4, 2005 -- From eWorldWire: "Since Sept. 11, the TSA has been commissioned with keeping airlines free from potential weapons. While performing this task, millions of innocent and often sentimental and valuable articles have been forfeited with no hope of retrieval. The deployment of ReturnKey Systems' automated mailing kiosks (AMKs) in major international airports now offers the traveling public an alternative to forfeiture while affording TSA a viable alternative to confiscation. As an additional benefit, U.S. Postal Service is returned to the terminals serviced by the kiosks."

February 4, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire:

• The nation's first director of homeland security, Tom Ridge, will be a headline speaker at the 2005 National Postal Forum (NPF), the country's largest mailing industry trade show, on March 23 in Nashville, TN. Ridge, the former Pennsylvania Governor who oversaw the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and became the organization's first secretary, will speak of his experience while with the Department and the close relationship he developed with the U.S. Postal Service.
• Former President George H.W. Bush today addressed attendees at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) 2005 Washington Nonprofit Conference at The Capitol Hilton. The conference, "Bright Ideas for Nonprofit Fundraising" brings together a large number of nonprofit organizations and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas on the fundraising and marketing needs of today, just over a month after the tsunami disaster.
• Focalex, Inc., an Internet advertising and affiliate marketing company, and wholly owned subsidiary of Intermix Media, Inc. , announced the release of Constellation, an innovative suite of technologies that enables Web publishers to monetize users more effectively and allows advertisers to obtain targeted leads with rich demographic data. Publishers can benefit from Constellation's dynamic optimization and customization features when their users receive the most relevant offers available for delivery. The result is powerful targeting features and capabilities for advertisers to collect targeted leads.

February 4, 2005 -- The Postal Service has issued a new Customer Support Ruling (CSR), PS-321, and a revised CSR, PS-275, to aid mailers in understanding revised postal standards that go into effect June 1, 2005 (see Postal Bulletin 22142, dated 11-25-04), about the use of “personal information” in Standard Mail matter. Both CSRs are being issued now, in advance of the effective date, to help customers in planning and making decisions about what may be mailed as Standard Mail and what must be mailed as First-Class Mail. Specifically, these CSRs provide examples where a decision is made about whether the presence of personal information in a mailing meets the test established by revised Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) E610.3.1 for including personal information in Standard Mail.

February 4, 2005 -- Forbes has reported that "U.S. business productivity slowed down in the fourth quarter of last year, growing at a 0.8% annual rate, compared to a 1.8% pace the previous quarter. The rise is weaker than the 1.2% rate economists expected and the smallest in nearly four years. The Labor Department said business productivity rose 4.1%, however, for the year of 2004."

February 4, 2005 -- Die Welt has reported that:

• Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, has said that it is expecting the current operating income of 2bn euros for its letter service division to remain stable for the long term. Although analysts fear that profits for the division could fall following the ending of the company's monopoly on letter services at the end of 2007, management explains that the company will compensate for loss of domestic business with gains in international letter activities.
• The German Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, has voted to end the monopoly of German national postal services provider Deutsche Post earlier than planned. A majority of finance ministers from each of Germany's federal states voted in the Bundesrat to end the monopoly on 1 January 2006, two years earlier than proposed by the German government in the Bundestag.

February 4, 2005 -- AFX Europe has reported that "EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes aims to launch inquiries into the energy, postal services, telecommunications and transport sectors to ensure legislative barriers have not been replaced by anti-competitive behaviour by companies following liberalisation."

February 4, 2005 -- Ireland Online has reported that "Trade unions representing workers at An Post are due before the Oireachtas communications committee to discuss financial difficulties at the state-run postal service. Relations between workers and management at the company are frayed at the moment, mainly due to cost-cutting measures designed to offset mounting losses. Speaking ahead of today's meeting, Fianna Fáil TD Noel O'Flynn, the chairman of the communications committee, said he wanted to see a negotiated solution to the problems at An Post."

February 4, 2005 -- Les Echos has reported that "La Poste, the French postal service operator, has drawn up plans for the structure of the postal bank that it is planning to create. The company says that Efiposte, the subsidiary responsible for the management of funds for post office giro accounts, will form the basis of the new institution. La Poste will continue to own 100 per cent of shares in this company."

February 3, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service said on Wednesday it has gained a little market share in package shipments during the last three months even as the volume of standard letters continues to decline. The recent surge in package deliveries for the Postal Service, he said, has translated into a "marginal" increase in market share."

February 3, 2005 -- The Hampton Roads Pilot has reported that "After learning of the local post office’s initiative to donate undeliverable books to libraries and other organizations, the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday sent a nationwide directive ending such programs."

February 3, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "Canfone.com Web Services, a leading Canadian provider of e-commerce services announced a new partnership, with Canada Post to implement its new shipping application which provides online merchants with a suite of delivery options for online purchases, simplifying order fulfillment and providing the best cost option for consumers. The partnership allows Canfone.com to integrate Canada Post's 'Sell Online shipping application' with its eStore Premium service, enabling its online merchants to offer customers a greater number of shipping options based on the actual cost of shipping."

February 3, 2005 -- According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, "Last fall, residents of Los Osos were simmering to a boil over mail delivery that had been slipping later and later into the evening. As a community with little street lighting or curbs and sidewalks, that meant elderly residents were venturing out to their mailboxes in the dark on uneven surfaces. Poor delivery had become not only an inconvenience but also a health and safety issue. It wasn't that the Postal Service wasn't aware of the escalating problem. Because of cost-cutting measures nationwide that included a virtual hiring freeze, the ranks of carriers were becoming alarmingly thin and overworked."

February 3, 2005 -- The Daily Trojan has reported that "To prevent customers from taking advantage of cheaper mailing rates by sending banned items through its Media Mail service, the U.S. Postal Service is now inspecting packages that are suspicious as well as others at random, raising privacy concerns among some customers."

February 3, 2005 -- The Irish Independent has reported that "ELEVEN postmasters and five postmistresses aged 90 and over are responsible for post office services in their communities, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday. Financial rewards are so low for people running small post offices that nobody replaces them when they die, according to the Irish Postmasters' Union."

February 3, 2005 -- The Kyodo news service has reported that "The chief of a U.S. life insurers' group said Thursday that Japan should ensure a level playing field in its insurance market when it privatizes postal services, and that Japan Post should launch no new products until such an environment is established. "We have a very strong request that no new products be sold by the Japan Post insurance arm of 'kampo' until a level playing field is established," said Frank Keating, president and chief executive officer of the American Council of Life Insurers, at a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. His remarks referred to the "kampo" postal life insurance service currently provided by the state-backed Japan Post. The Japanese government plans to privatize the public corporation in a 10-year process beginning in April 2007. Keating said the treatment of "kampo" service after the privatization is the "No. 1 trade issue" in the industry."

February 3, 2005 -- Nation Online has reported that "Malawi Posts Corporation (MPC) has introduced various reform strategies aimed at cost reduction and revenue growth for the parastatal organisation and also providing high quality services to its customers. The strategies are part of a Privatisation and Utility Reform Project funded by the World Bank and government."

February 2, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that "Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic, fiscal and postal reform policy, said Wednesday the government was considering awarding quasi-government employee status to employees of a privatized postal firm providing services such as delivery of certified mail. He indicated the government was considering several options for the status of postal employees after privatization takes place in 2007, such as creating a new status for them or giving quasi-government employee status that ensure employees are subject to the same anticorruption rules as government employees."

February 2, 2005 -- The Postal Service's 2004 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations is now posted on the USPS web site at http://www.usps.com/strategicplanning/cspo.htm.

February 2, 2005 -- The Postal Service has submitted its data collection report for the first year of the Capital One negotiated service agreement. The report indicates that the Postal Service netted more than $21 million in benefits from the NSA in its first year, its first negotiated agreement with an individual mailer.

February 2, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire:

• Working on Fashion Avenue has an entirely different meaning for the United States Postal Service today. Letter carriers routinely deliver to thousands of addresses along Manhattan's venerable Fashion (Seventh) Avenue, home to design houses, chic salons, modeling agencies and businesses supporting the fashion industry. Today, the focus expands from the delivery of mail to the delivery of new fashion standards, too, as one of the world's most recognizable uniforms undergoes a transformation as part of Bravo-TV's "Project Runway."
• Campbell-Ewald was recognized at the annual Advertising Marketing Effectiveness (AME) Awards. With a total of six gold, silver and bronze medallions, Campbell-Ewald was the second most honored agency in the world. Campbell-Ewald earned gold in the integrated campaign category for Chevrolet's "An American Revolution" and silver for the campaign's TV advertising. Also winning silver were the "Holiday" campaign for the U.S. Postal Service.

February 2, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal) has reported that:

• At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Michael Critelli, chairman of the US Pitney Bowes Corporation demanded a faster liberalisation of the German postal market. Mr Critelli said the market had a large unused potential. Mr Critelli's views were supported by UPS manager David Abney, who heads the integrator's international parcel division. `Germany still lacks fair competition', according to Mr Abney. Deutsche Post's CEO Klaus Zumwinkel rejected their criticism as being the attitude of business rivals.
• Deutsche Post AG shares appear to be popular among Japanese private investors.
• A clever business concept, lower prices and more services than the post offers: Berlin-based businessman Andy Rosch reveals what makes his business successful. His Paketerias operate as eBay agents where customers can deposit their auction goods and the accompanying text. At the shop, the goods are photographed, put on eBay and the rest of the transaction is also taken care of.

Don't be satisfied with a less than complete report on the courier, express, and postal market in Europe. Get your subscription to CEP News, today..

February 2, 2005 -- DM News has noted that "Direct mail is not dead. Take the word of senior circulation executives from Guideposts Publications, Meredith Corp., Time Inc.'s Southern Progress Corp. and the National Geographic Society."

February 2, 2005 -- The Daily Tribune has reported that "The postal employees from Royal Oak and Madison Heights who signed a petition last year complaining about working conditions and management were asked to document specific incidents for U.S. Sen. Carl Levin."

February 2, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , dogged by a slump in its domestic package operations, is counting on its logistics and international businesses to help drive future results, analysts said. Analysts expect the company to focus its resources on growing its international, as well as its non-package -- or logistics -- division, which coordinates the movement of goods for customers. Both have benefited from the surge in global trade."

February 2, 2005 -- The Association for Postal Commerce has filed with the Postal Rate Commission comments on the Commission's latest proposal to define "postal service" in Docket No. RM2004-1. A copy has been posted on this site.

February 2, 2005 -- Minutes from the recent meeting of the MTAC Executive Steering Committee on the Corporate Automation Plan have been posted on this site for the benefit of PostCom members.

February 1, 2005 -- According to Portalino, "Consumers are also becoming more sophisticated in their usage of email. A significant proportion of consumers consider email to be a replacement for telemarketing (49%) and direct mail to their home address (45%). When asked what they would like email to replace, 54 percent said telemarketing, 45 percent said in-person sales calls and forty percent said direct mail to postal address. An additional third (33%) of respondents would like to see email replacing retail offers and coupons, and twenty eight percent said bills or statements."

February 1, 2005 -- The Miami Herald has reported that "A Miami couple were rescued Monday morning from their burning apartment by a U.S. Postal Service worker, said Miami fire rescue spokesman Ignatius Carroll. Willie Hayward was delivering mail on his daily route when he saw smoke coming from an apartment in the 600 block of Northwest 32nd Street. Hayward began banging on the door when a woman answered, Carroll said. She said her husband was inside, unconscious. Hayward grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, got on his knees, crawled toward the bedroom and dragged the man to safety."

February 1, 2005 -- According to the Business Report (South Africa), "The minister of communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, has, through the postal regulator, approved only a 4.3 percent tariff increase for the SA Post Office instead of the 5.8 percent the state-owned postal services company asked for. Dupree Vilakazi, the chairman of the regulator, said the regulator approved 4.3 percent because it wanted postal services to be affordable so that the Post Office was able to deliver on its universal service obligation. This was was to bring postal services to all South Africans, especially in the rural areas, where postal services were the only form of distance communication available."

February 1, 2005 -- According to DM News, "More money will be spent on direct marketing and sales programs in 2005 than last year, according to the most recent Customer Relationship Management Trends Census conducted by Customer Connect Associates Inc."

February 1, 2005 -- The Gateway (Canada) has reported that "A court battle between American courier giant UPS and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers began in Ontario last Monday after UPS accused Canada Post of unfairly violating Chapter 11 of NAFTA. This chapter allows corporations to seek compensation when government policies are deemed to harm their businesses. According to UPS, the fact that Canada Post is publicly funded gives it an unfair advantage over private delivery companies. Prime Minister Paul Martin is pushing for a stronger dispute mechanism within NAFTA, but this won’t be enough to protect Canada in the long run. It’s time to revisit Chapter 11, along with the entire agreement, and fight for our juridical sovereignty. Canada cannot and should not be part of an agreement that violates our legal system and our constitution, and it’s time for Martin to make this clear."

February 1, 2005 -- UsingRFID.com has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is to implement a wireless asset network for industrial equipment tracking and management, supplied by I.D. Systems Inc., at its facilities throughout the USA. The contract was awarded after a competitive bidding process in which USPS defined its requirements for a wide-ranging, value-driven, wireless vehicle management solution that would work effectively in the mail processing environment. This article is copyright 2005 UsingRFID.com. The contract has a guaranteed value of some US$4 million for a near-term deployment at eight major USPS facilities and, over the duration of the three- year contract, the USPS could potentially deploy the system at up to 460 facilities of varying sizes."

February 1, 2005 -- From the BusinessWire: "Alpine Air Express Inc. and its subsidiary, Alpine Aviation Inc., which is the third-largest regional cargo airline and transportation logistics company in the United States, with a fleet of 30 airplanes, announced today that it has given a 90-day termination notice to the U.S. Postal Service for the AMOT mail contract servicing the Hawaiian Islands. The termination will be effective April 24, 2005. The decision to terminate the contract for airmail in the Hawaiian chain was a business decision, which enables the company to continue to provide a high level of service to the U.S.P.S. in other western states and pursue additional opportunities on the U.S. mainland. "Actual mail volumes are off by double digit percentages compared to the U.S. Postal Service estimates during the contract bid process. This fact, coupled with the lack of infrastructure available on some of the outlying Islands has dictated our decision to issue our termination notice."

February 1, 2005 -- SecurityInfoWatch has reported that "According to a statement released to the press by Hop-on.com, the USPS has purchased "an initial order" of Hop-on's Model 2145 wireless surveillance systems. This may seem at first to be a run-of-the-mill sales announcement, but it gets better. This wireless system, which has a small IR-system on the camera for night-time views, is decidedly consumer grade, the kind of thing that a paranoid homeowner might set up in his/her own home. Designed as a plug-and-play device, you plug in the battery pack and the monitoring system and it broadcasts to a handheld viewer. There's no indication that any encryption is used to prevent the transmitted video from being picked up by another party."