Press Release: Husch Blackwell's Postal Service Contracting practice group today released its list of the top 10 U.S. Postal Service suppliers for fiscal year 2011. For the ninth straight year FedEx claimed the No. 1 spot. Another air carrier, Kalitta Air, Inc., which transports military mail bound for Iraq and Afghanistan, claimed the second spot. The list is compiled by David P. Hendel, a partner in the firm who has served clients' postal contracting needs for 30 years. A list of the top 150 suppliers can be found here. First-place FedEx transports Express Mail, Priority Mail and First Class Mail, and earned postal revenues of $1.495 billion in fiscal 2011 – an increase of $122 million from last year. Higher fuel prices may account for the increase. Another postal competitor, United Parcel Service, is the Postal Service's 11th largest postal supplier, earning $102 million in revenue – a $7 million increase from last year. Six of the top 10 postal contractors are in the transportation field.

Bangor Daily News: With 30 rural Maine post offices facing potential closure and nationwide service cutbacks looming, some local postal service employees and activists are attempting to ratchet up pressure on Congress to rescind a law they insist is causing the agency’s financial woes. But at least one member of Maine’s congressional delegation said the U.S. Postal Service will need systemic changes to survive. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is co-sponsoring a bill that would reduce the amount of prefunding by essentially spreading the payments out over additional years. The legislation, Senate Bill 1789, also would allow the postal service to reclaim $11 billion in overpayments to the federal pension system and use that money to offer employees buyouts and early retirement incentives. The goal of that provision is to save the postal service an estimated $8 billion a year by cutting 100,000 positions, or roughly 20 percent of the total staff. But the bill also directs the postal service to explore ways to shift toward more curbside mail delivery rather than hand delivery to people’s doorsteps. Those provisions do not sit well with postal employee unions.

Global Logistics Media: The quality of consumer mail delivery in 2011 has achieved one of its highest in over 20 years scores with 96.1%. By law, PostNL must score at least 95% for the standard overnight delivery services within the Netherlands. This concerns the mail deposited in PostNL’s public postboxes. As a rule, these items must be delivered the next working day. PostNL is content with its performance, especially given the many changes it made to its organisation in 2011 to prepare it for a new delivery structure. Mail delivery is no longer prepared at 300 locations across the Netherlands but instead at just nine central preparation locations. The score shows a marked improvement on 2010.

Folio: The MPA: The Association of Magazine Media came together at the Hearst Tower Thursday to discuss an issue that is plaguing the minds of publishers, lawmakers and individuals across the country: the state (and future) of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and its impact on magazine media, its ads, revenue and distribution.

February 2, 2012 

Media Daily News: Time Inc. is set to close MAGHOUND, dubbed the "Netflix of the magazine industry" early in 2012, the fourth year of its operation. Using MAGHOUND, consumers could buy multiple titles from various publishers each month at discount prices without having to subscribe to any single publication.

Job Mouse: The APWU has learned that the Senate will consider postal legislation in the near future. As currently written, the bill would give the USPS some short-term financial relief, but would also inflict long-term damage to the nation’s mail system, said APWU President Cliff Guffey.

PostCom welcomes its newest member: Intelisent, LLC 880 Marshall Phelps Road Windsor, CT 06095 represented by Mark Mandell Founder, President and CEO

Now hear this: "This Week In Postal".........the latest podcast posted now! (Link fixed, sorry 'bout that)

Wall Street Journal: The federal government arrested 58 people over the past week in a national crackdown on identity theft led by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice, the tax agency said Tuesday. The collaboration among several federal agencies and local U.S. attorneys' offices targeted people suspected of using false Social Security numbers or other personal information to file fraudulent tax returns.

Cork Independent: An autistic Cork man who cannot read or write but is a gifted artist, has been chosen as one of eight global artists to feature art on a new range of United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) stamps. Colm Isherwood (25) from Mahon was chosen as the only Irish artist whose work will appear on stamps to celebrate World Autism Day on 2 April.

The Other Russia: Workers at Pochta Rossii, Russia’s federal postal service, are complaining of being forced to take part in a pro-government rally in Moscow this weekend, Kasparov.ru reports. On Wednesday, Novaya Gazeta published a statement by a postal worker that included a letter sent to local Pochta Rossii managers. The letter, signed by a representative of the company’s personel service, demanded a list from each branch of employees who would be taking part in the February 4 protest at Moscow’s Victory Park. The letter then states: “We would like to bring to your attention the fact that worker participation is mandatory!” In addition, another Pochta Rossii worker said on a live broadcast of Russian News Service radio that management had promised to pay each worker 6 thousand rubles (~200 USD) for going to the rally.

Asia News Network: Postal service providers in Brunei must adopt modern technology through sustainable diversification of services in order to meet consumer changes and become relevant in the current century, an expert said. "The most obvious challenge post offices are facing is the challenge from alternative technologies, where consumers today are using other means of communication more than the traditional postal services," said Shailendra Kumar Dwivedi, a lecturer from the Asian Pacific Postal College Bangkok, Thailand.

Wall Street Journal: Facebook Inc. filed for an initial public offering Wednesday that could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting the eight-year-old company on track to be one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time, even as it tries to keep up with sky-high expectations. [EdNote: In the meantme, the nation's first "social network," the U.S. Postal Service, is facing bankruptcy. Perhaps Wall Street will be kinder to Facebook than Congress has been to the Postal Service.]

Financial Times: Portugal’s government aims to intensify structural economic reforms and regain access to debt markets next year, even though its bond yields are touching perilously high levels, Vítor Gaspar, finance minister, said on Wednesday.The government is promising to speed up its transposition into Portuguese law of liberalising EU initiatives on energy, postal services and the railway industry.

Financial Times: Magyar Posta, the post office, power company Magyar Villamos Muvek and the development bank Magyar Fejlesztesi Bank have clubbed together to buy a licence and compete with the three existing mobile companies – the local affiliates of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Norway’s Telenor.

BNC.com: Fans of the online literary magazine the Rumpus recently opened their mailboxes to find a missive from its founder, Stephen Elliott. In one way, this was entirely routine - he sends out emails that mix personal stories with links to new website content almost every day. In another way, it was absolutely new: The mailboxes they opened were not on their computers but near apartment lobbies, doorways and the end of driveways. The Rumpus had sent them a traditional letter, on paper, with a stamp, envelope and signature.

Target Marketing: Many catalogers who had backed away from print—or stopped printing entirely— are now refocusing on their print catalog core. In my consulting business, I'm hearing clients (who would prefer not to be identified) say, "Our catalogs are profitable again," "Catalogs are our main sales driver," and "Catalogs are our first-line prospecting vehicle." What's driving the reinvestment in print catalogs? Here are nine emerging techniques and technologies that are largely responsible, and how you can apply them to your marketing.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: Yesterday, in its conference call covering its 4th Quarter 2011 earnings, United Parcel Service (UPS) provided strong evidence that the parcel delivery industry is now more closely tied to the growth in e-commerce than to the economy in general. In addition, it provided some idea as to how UPS is changing its operations, pricing, labor relations, and marketing to deal with the change in the mix of parcels that its customers want UPS to deliver.

Practical eCommerce: The free-shipping era squeezes smaller merchants. They must match the shipping policies of larger competitors, but they don't receive the high-volume shipping discounts that the larger companies do. Smaller merchants must pay more, in other words, for offering free shipping. There's a company that offers high-volume shipping discounts to low-volume ecommerce merchants.

Wichita Business Journal: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the United States will add 20.5 million jobs between 2010 and 2020 — a 14.3 percent increase over the decade. The bureau’s list of declining jobs also includes several tied to a single employer — the U.S. Postal Service . Despite the nationwide job losses from the Postal Service, postal employees in Wichita could have a better chance of keeping their jobs. A proposed consolidation of mail processing facilities would bring more work to Wichita while cutting jobs elsewhere in the state.

Charlotte City Buzz Examiner: The Postal Service reported a net loss of $5.1 billion for its 2011 fiscal year and on Tuesday warned that could run out of cash by September of next year if Congress did not offer relief. What we need is a new business model for the post office, much more entrepreneurial. in a rural State, if people would like to walk into a post office and get a letter notarized, they cannot do it today. If people walk into a post office and want to get 10 copies of their letter, they cannot do it today. The United States Congress has said they cannot do that. If somebody walks into a rural post office and wants to get a fishing license or a hunting license or fill out a driver’s license, they cannot do that right now. You can’t send a fax, pay a bill online…You can’t print out stamps with your favorite picture on it? The list of what the post office doesn’t do is endless.

New York Times: Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, received a postal package containing anthrax spores four months ago, his spokesman said Wednesday, adding a new dimension to the security threats faced by the country’s political and military leadership.

Post & Parcel: Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor has downgraded New Zealand Post’s outlook from “stable” to “negative” over concerns about the ongoing decline in mail volumes. The postal service has its credit rating monitored in relation to its $400m debt facilities, with the rating reviewed on a semi-annual basis. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed the Post’s AA- long-term credit rating and A-1+ short term credit rating, but the Post’s outlook was downgraded along with its banking subsidiary Kiwibank The change was based on what the agency saw as a continuing deterioration in New Zealand Post’s core business, letters, and the increasing dependence of the company on the competitive parcels segment for growth.

KUNC: After asking for a five-month moratorium in December, Congress has been relatively quiet so far on how it hopes to fix the economically troubled U.S. Postal Service. The Senate was expected to begin debating postal reform legislation this week. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided instead to prioritize the STOCK Act. Meantime, the USPS is losing $23 million per day.

Post & Parcel: Dutch postal regulatory OPTA has written to ministers suggesting that PostNL face administrative penalties for missing its service quality target in 2010. By law, the universal service provider in the Netherlands must deliver 95% of its standard single-piece overnight domestic mail, as deposited within public postboxes, on the next working day. During 2010, PostNL achieved only a 92.9% rate, but has argued that the low score was the result of “considerable” strike action by trade unions at the end of the year.

Government Executive: An estimate of the latest U.S. Postal Service reform bill to be introduced into the Senate finds that the plan would create a net government loss of $6.3 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office released the assessment of the 21st Century Postal Service Act on Jan. 26, as ordered by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. CBO obtained the loss number by calculating that the bill would result in off-budget savings of $25.6 billion through 2022 and on-budget costs of $31.9 billion during the same time period.
 

♪♫"Oh I heard it -- Heard It -- Yes, I heard it through the grapevine. . . ." ♫♪   Word has it that a revision of S. 1789 is now set for consideration on the Senate floor -- if sufficienct support can be garnered. You might want to look at the Postal Service's "Talking Points" on the bill to get an idea of what's under discussion.

Government Executive: The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would freeze federal worker and lawmaker pay through 2013, in what Democrats and labor union leaders called an overly politicized maneuver. The bill (H.R. 3835), introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., passed 309 -117 Wednesday. It came to the floor under the House’s suspension calendar, which required a two-thirds majority for passage and allowed for a vote without opportunity for public comment or amendment. Congress typically uses the process on non-controversial bills with bipartisan support. The measure extends the salary freeze for members of Congress and civilian federal employees, with no changes or cost of living adjustments available until the end of 2013. [EdNote: The Postal Service is not covered by this proposed pay freeze.]

Welcome to PostCom Radio A PostCom Postal Podcast Join PostCom President Gene Del Polito, Grayhair Postal Affairs Vice President Angelo Anagnostopoulis, and Bank of America Postal Strategy Senior Vice President Michael Tate in a discussion of the "Postal Box Street Address" (PBSA) pratfall.

February 1, 2012 

PC World: It's been known for some time that there are security issues associated with the increasing use of RFID tags in credit cards, but this past weekend afforded a fresh demonstration of just how easy it is for hackers to take advantage of them.

Congressional Research Service: "The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress"

Wall Street Journal: Paperless Post is known for personalized digital invitations, usually sent by email, that create a paper-like experience. Now the company is expanding its offerings of cards pegged to Valentine's Day, the second-most important greeting-card occasion of the year, after Christmas. An estimated 150 million paper Valentine's Day cards were bought last year, according to the Greeting Card Association. Delivered by email or through social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, Paperless Post's electronic invitations appear on the screen as an image of a paper envelope. Typeface can look as if it is letter-pressed or engraved. The card—usually a digital image of a handcrafted paper card made by Paperless Post designers—pops out of the envelope with adornments that may include a fancy lining and personally selected calligraphy.

Parcel2Go: The UK’s largest online parcel delivery specialist has said it is unsurprised by the results of a recent study highlighting the growing importance of online delivery services. A worldwide survey of 93 members of the Universal Postal Union showed that 70 per cent believe postal e-services are strategically important for the future. The research identified 55 different types of digital services which are now available, including track and trace and online bill payments.

InfoTech: An industry first, the AccuLazr(TM) AL5010 laser barcode scanner from Accu-Sort® Systems, Inc. now offers user access via the iPhone® and iPad®. A smartphone or tablet PC can now be used to remotely monitor and diagnose warehouse operations by accessing a web page hosted on the laser barcode scanner. A cable connection to the scanner is no longer required in order to monitor the performance of the system.

  PR-Inside: Address data experts at Postcode Anywhere have unveiled a new international address auto-complete application for Sage CRM. The free-to-download extension uses rapid postal code look-up, combined with auto-suggest technology which completes address fields as the user types - making address data entry “faster, easier and more accurate.” Postcode Anywhere makes it possible to enter full and validated UK or international contact addresses up to 80% faster in Sage CRM. Multiple postal address formats in international addresses.

The Press Information Bureau: Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology inaugurated a Round Table on National Postal Policy here today. Speaking on the occasion Shri Sibal said that in view of IT revolution India Post has to embrace the changes and to be prepared for challenges of tomorrow. Shri Sachin Pilot Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology said that Department of Posts has to revisit and reinvent itself in the light of rapidly changing scenario. Though Department of Posts is already engaged in plethora of activities, it may explore other revenue streams.

CIOL: India Post under the ministry of communications and IT is expected to come up with pan-India rollout of mobile money order service. The pilot program for this project is currently under way in Bihar and Punjab. Manjula Prasher, secretary (Posts), chairman of the postal services Board and director general, India Post, on the sidelines of National Postal Policy 2012 roundtable in New Delhi informed that they chose two states-- Bihar and Punjab-- where a lot of immigrant workers remit money to their states.

The Hindu Business Line: The Postal Department has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a banking licence. Aimed at modernising postal services, the policy is expected to make the department adopt a more financially viable revenue model. It would also provide affordable services at all points in the country as part of its Universal Service Obligation, the Minister said.

eCommerceBytes: Postal regulators have finalized a new set of rules governing the procedure for closing post offices, seeking to streamline the review process as the U.S. Postal Service looks ahead to the potential closure of thousands of locations. The agency agreed to shelve some of the more controversial provisions that had drawn protests from the Postal Service and direct mailer Valpak, such as a requirement to provide notice to affected mailing customers in the community ahead of the proposal and final determination to close a site, and a provision that would have automatically triggered a suspension of the closing process if the move was opposed by a timely appeal. In both cases, the Postal Service and Valpak argued that the PRC was exceeding its authority with the proposed rulemaking, and the agency agreed to table the measures indefinitely.

CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

As previously announced the EU-Commission adopted four decisions concerning state aid proceedings against postal operators in Europe. ’In the decisions concerning the Deutsche Post and the Belgian bpost we have concluded that part of the aid received is incompatible with the internal market and ordered its recovery’, said EUCommissioner Joaquin Almunia. In contrast the aid granted to French La Poste and Greek post ELTA were approved by the EU-Commission.
The EU-Commision found that the pension subsidies granted since 1995 on account of the pension costs of civil servants have conferred an economic advantage to Deutsche Post.
Belgian bpost has to repay 417m to the state. The EU-Commission found that the Belgian post was overcompensated by subsidies for the delivery of newspapers and magazines amounting to 5.2bn euros between 1992 and 2010.
The EU-Commission approved subsidies granted to French La Poste despite its market share of over 99%
China’s express and postal industry recorded significant growth last year. While letter mail volume stagnated at 7.38 billion (-0.3%) the express services partially recorded exorbitant growth rates.
InPost, a subsidiary of Polish mail service provider Integer.pl (revenue 2010: 46.1m euros) has bypassed Poczta Polska’s reserved area since November 2010 by adding metal plates to letters weighing less than 50 grammes, to increase the weight of the mail items.
  Last week postal minister Ed Davey confirmed to the parliament that Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd. signed a contract providing certainty that all products of Royal Mail will be available in the post offices for the next ten years. The agreement is considered a prerequisite for guaranteeing Post Office Ltd.’s financial stability.
In an interview with »Financial Times« (30.01) Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post UK, announced to operate with TNT mailmen in the UK. A corresponding test in Liverpool has been positive and TNT now plans to launch this service in other urban centres across the UK.
PostNL faces trouble with its subcontractors. A spokesman of the drivers association De Stichting Subcontractors Vervoersbedrijven announced to seek a judicial review of the labour conditions of the around 1.800 subcontractors in the mail and parcel divisions. According to the association the van drivers are only bogus self-employed.
A privatisation of Russia Post isn’t off the table yet. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recommended to privatise Russia Post. The consultants suggested a partial privatisation which could yield up to one billion euros. This cash injection should be used to fund a restructuring programme according to the consultancy.
Despite a decrease in profit Singapore Post (SingPost) probably remained the worlds most profitable postal company in the third quarter of the current business year.
FedEx apparently plans to take over one of Poland’s leading CEP services. »Dziennik Gazeta Prawna« (28.01) reported that the integrator is poised to pay 100m zloty, around 23.5m euros, for the courier service Opek.
Gati, one of India’s large express service providers (revenue 2010/2011: 185m euros) is in deeper financial troubles than originally thought.
DPD and Hermes are pooling their resources in Russia.
Activists in the USA devoted increased attention to FedEx. Several hundred people protested in front of a FedEx facility in Los Angeles and demanded that the company should really pay its corporate tax rate of 35%. The protests were triggered by a report of the left-leaning non profit organisation Citizens for Tax Justice according to which twelve major U.S. corporations - FedEx among them - not only avoided taxes completely, but received tax refunds due to the current law in the USA
European retail companies face problems to establish their online crossborder business.
CTT Expresso, a subsidiary of the Portuguese post, is on the course for growth.
The consumer advice centre in Schleswig-Holstein accused Deutsche Post of selling the addresses of its customers.
TNT Post Germany plans to buy into North German Citipost.
The South African Post Office (SAPO) has to look for a new CEO. Last week a spokeswoman confirmed that SAPO and its former CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka reached a ’mutually agreed separation’. Lefoka has been on ’special leave’ since October 2011 due to an internal investigation over irregular lease contracts.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)

Hellmail: Despite Lithuania not being too far from the Nordic regions, its weather is surpisingly moderate. No real need for tennis rackets nailed to shoes here. That said, given an alternative, few in Lithuania would really want to trek to the local post box just to post a letter unless part of some exercise regime or to give the dog a taste of freedom. With much of the world now online, and Hybrid Mail gaining in popularity, Lithuanian Post is now offering its own version of Hybrid to anyone wishing to post a traditional paper letter - from their computer desktop.

Hellmail: Magazine publishers have given top marks for customer satisfaction to mailing firms accredited by the industry’s quality standards scheme. Almost 90 per cent of publishers (89.6%) said they would definitely use a distribution company accredited by the Mail Distribution Accreditation Scheme (MDAS) in future, the 2011 MDAS Customer Satisfaction Survey revealed. The figure is the highest customer satisfaction rating registered since the annual study was first conducted in 2008, and marks a year-on-year increase of 8.9% from the 2010 figure of 82.4%.

Business2Community: "USPS Tries To Scare Boomers Away From Online Banking"

PI World: Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) recently held a press conference at Zenger Group, a printing and direct mail service provider, to oppose the scheduled closure of the Postal Service William Street mail processing facility here. The facility is considered to be the postal distribution gateway between the United States and Toronto/southern Ontario, as well as a major radiating point of print and mail services in Western New York.

Postalnews Blog: According to an article in Logistics Management, the “star” of United Parcel Service’s impressive fourth quarter performance was its Sure Post product, which uses the US Postal Service to actually deliver B2C parcels

Direct Marketing News: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is, for the second year, planning a summertime promotion for direct mailers that use two-dimensional barcodes, USPS VP of domestic products Gary Reblin told Direct Marketing News on Jan. 31. Reblin said last year's barcode promotion — which gave mailers a 3% discount on qualifying Standard and First-Class mail letters, flats and cards — was so successful that the USPS's board of governors urged that another promotional program be developed for this year. The details of this year's promotion will be put before the USPS's board of governors on Feb. 8 for its approval, Reblin said. He declined to discuss specifics, as he said doing so would be premature prior to the board's approval. However, he did say this year's mobile barcode discount promotion will have some different features from last year's. “We've studied best practices; we're going to take what we learned from the last one and be more specific.”

PRNewswire: Enroute Systems Corporation (www.enroutecorp.com) has announced the launch of new last mile postal service delivery service options for its ShipIt! Portal supply chain management software. In addition to existing support of multiple global and regional carrier parcel delivery services, Enroute now offers cost-effective delivery capabilities to businesses and residences in over 220 countries through their partnership with DHL Global Mail. Far different from other shipment execution solutions, ShipIt! Portal enables custom business rules that can recommend or completely automate the shipping processes for retailers, distributors, and manufacturers. Once the appropriate carrier or service is selected, Enroute's software creates the necessary label, documents and manifest, while parcel tracking information is then accessible from any web browser. Detailed analytics enable rapid evaluation of service selection, centered on factors such as cost, speed, and efficiency. A typical Enroute customer saves up to 30% of their shipping costs and regains total control of how they ship.

Next week, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe will host two webinars for managed account customers regarding the Postal Service's proposed changes to service standards and the mail processing network. The attachment to this message contains the invitation that will be sent to managed account customers through the Postal Service's Business Service Network, and instructions for joining the webinars. The PowerPoint presentation used will be posted on RIBBS after the first webinar on February 7. Because there are limited phone lines available to participants in these webinars, Industry Engagement and Outreach (IEO) will schedule and conduct a separate webinar -- using the same PowerPoint deck and covering the same topics -- for Industry Association Executives, the PCC Advisory Committee, and MTAC leadership. IEO will contact you with information about the webinar within the next few days.

January 31, 2012 

Docket No. N2012-1: On January 18, 2012, the Postal Service filed a motion which “requests that the Commission reconsider the current procedural schedule and establish a new procedural schedule that will ensure issuance of its Advisory Opinion by mid-April, 2012.”1 The Presiding Officer has certified this issue to the Commission for consideration.2 This request effectively asks that the procedural schedule recently established after hearing and considering the scheduling concerns of all participants, including the Postal Service, be reduced by several months. Such a substantial reduction in schedule appears inconsistent with due process afforded all participants when conducting a hearing on the record under sections 556 and 557 of title 5. The Motion is denied.

U.S. Postal Service:: Mailing Industry Stakeholder: We invite you to take part in our latest testing for our Every Door Direct Mail/Standard Mail TV animatics. Below is a link that will allow you to view the animatics for the commercials and be a part of the testing. To access this survey, please press the “CTRL” key on your keyboard as you left-click the link below with your mouse. http://t2.ktrmr.com/surveyr.aspx?i.project=CQMMP&s=GEN24&id=1&chk=na&pid=auto

The following report has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsoig.gov). If you have additional questions concerning a report, please contact Wally Olihovik at 703-248-2201 or Agapi Doulaveris at 703-248-22

Revenue, Pieces, and Weight Inputs into the Cost and Revenue Analysis Report (Report Number CRR-AR-12-003). Our report determined the U.S. Postal Service could significantly reduce manual data collection for revenue, pieces, and weights estimation by modifying existing automated processes to collect mailpiece images for analysis and moving sampling from delivery units to supporting processing plants. The Postal Service could make the hardware changes needed with existing technology, which would benefit both operational needs and statistical sampling efforts. We estimate the Postal Service could save about $13 million in annual data collection costs.

Postal Employee Network: Congressman John Carter is asking the U.S. Post Office for a review of the considerations used in determining which post offices to close in the agency’s cost-cutting decisions this month.

Reuters: United Parcel Service posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and forecast 9 percent to 15 percent growth this year as solid U.S. demand and growing e-commerce activity offsets an uneven global economy. UPS reported its fourth-quarter profit was down sharply as the result of a change in how the world's largest package-delivery company accounts for its pension expenses. Factoring that change out, profit would have risen, helped by strong growth in the company's consumer business -- driven by online shopping during the recent holiday season -- which offset less-robust growth outside the United States, analysts said.

Postal Technology International: Swiss Post is expanding its presence in Scandinavia, with Swiss Post International opening a branch in Norway at the beginning of the year. This provides Swiss online dealers with the possibility of greatly reducing customs clearance costs when exporting to the non-EU country of Norway and cutting costs for Norwegian consumers.

Tonawanda News: We’ve been inundated with news reports about the fiscal woes of the U.S. Postal Service. Why is it that we never hear anything about another federal enterprise facing ongoing losses -- Amtrak? The only reason that Amtrak stays alive is subsidies by taxpayers. Since the start of the 2000s, the United States has dedicated more than $1 billion per year to the broken system, and matters were only made worse by the Rail Safety Improvement Act signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush. The Act guarantees annual funding of $2.6 billion through 2013. Even with the cash flow of such charity, Amtrak continues to string together losses. Despite the glaring weaknesses of commuter rail (and the federal government’s business acumen), Washington is insistent on spending our money — and lots of it — on its ethereal demand. Sadly, there’s no end in sight. Thinking the concept of high-speed rail is the silver bullet that will win over the masses when it comes to the continued socialization of our means of travel, the White House announced a year ago that it will be “investing” $53 billion over the next six years to build such a network. That money will be used almost entirely by government entities, including state-run operations and Amtrak, alike. Only government officials could see a winner in high-speed commuter rail, having never learned a lesson from what ails the current system. Promoting and sustaining entities like Amtrak — with broken, irreparable operational systems and a market that won’t bear the investment — now and into the future has us speeding to fiscal destruction by adding to the unconscionable deficits and debts that burden us at the federal level.

BBC: Jersey Post said they would be ending the two-tier postal service from March. It introduced a priority and a delayed post at a reduced rate in November 2010. Chief executive Kevin Keen said: "It has been clear for some time many islanders were unhappy with the two-tier service." The company will end the split in March bringing the price of posting a letter in the island to 37p.

The Baltic Course: The council of Estonian state-owned postal company Eesti Post chose Aavo Kärmas as the new board chairman of the company.

WebWire: The UK’s largest online parcel delivery specialist has said it is unsurprised by the results of a recent study highlighting the growing importance of online delivery services. A worldwide survey of 93 members of the Universal Postal Union showed that 70 per cent believe postal e-services are strategically important for the future. The research identified 55 different types of digital services which are now available, including track and trace and online bill payments.

Caspionet: National postal services of Russia and Kazakhstan are planning to increase online commerce. According to both sides, the countries have all the necessary conditions for this. Electronic commerce will be given a new impetus for development. KazPost and Russian Post intend to attract a wide audience even from rural areas in online commerce within the framework of the Common Economic Space.

January 30, 2012 

Federal Times: Seldom does one federal agency save money at another’s expense. But that’s how it’s looking more than a year after the Internal Revenue Service opted to stop delivering millions of income tax forms by mail. The IRS announced the decision in September 2010 as part of a push to economize on its annual printing and postage budget. As of this past August, the savings on postage costs just from not mailing Form 1040 packages amounted to about $4.1 million, according to a recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. That was money lost to the U.S. Postal Service, which is in financial crisis driven exactly by this kind of shift to e-mail and electronic commerce. The Postal Service, it should be noted, recouped about half of that amount because the IRS used postcards to notify taxpayers of the change. But as the report notes, that was a one-time expense. And the report doesn’t attempt to quantify what the Postal Service will lose from the additional taxpayers who go with the IRS’ advice to “e-file” their annual returns.

The Oklahoma Daily: The U.S. Postal Service cut 50 full-time employees from OU’s staff Monday, a 28 percent decrease. Cuts were given to instructors and technical staff at the National Center for Employee Development of University Outreach, said Richard Little, the associate vice president of University Outreach. The U.S. Postal Service primarily made this decision, and OU was forced to terminate several contracts from the Norman-based training location. OU has been administering contracts to employees at the center for over 22 years, and this is the largest number of cuts in one decision, Little said in a press release. OU was notified two weeks ago about the need for cuts and administered notifications that Monday would be the last day for cut employees. Prior to Monday, OU employed 180 full-time support staff and instructors. This cut comes at the heel of a 46 percent drop in national revenue for the postal service last year, according to a press release.

Press Release: Satori Software today launched EasyTrack, a mail stream monitoring add-on service for its Bulk Mailer and MailRoom ToolKit mailing preparation solutions. Mailers and their clients can now benefit from increased visibility into the USPS mail stream to more accurately predict mail delivery windows and identify possible delivery issues. USPS automation equipment scans First-Class Mail® and Standard Mail® letters and flats as they pass through. When the mail pieces are marked with a properly encoded Intelligent Mail® barcode, the raw scan data is made available to the mailer. EasyTrack transforms this raw scan data into valuable and easy-to-understand information Satori Software customers can use to track and analyze their mail from the time it is deposited at USPS through its predicted delivery.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on this week’s “Pushing the Envelope” blog topic:

U.S. Mail: A Perpetual Duty. In 1789, our founding fathers provided the necessary infrastructure to “bind” the nation together through communication, and thus the Post Office Department (now the U.S. Postal Service) was born. Our needs for a secure national communications system have obviously evolved since the 1700s. Do you think America needs secure universal digital postal services? Share your thoughts on our blog.  New audit projects have been started on the external website:

• Processing of Meter Activity – 12BG017FT000. Postage meters and PC Postage systems generate indicia imprinted on or affixed to a mailing to evidence payment of postage. The services generate provide a convenient postage payment option for Postal Service customers to print postage labels and account for postage. The Postal Service regulates these services and their use to protect postal revenue. Only authorized manufacturers or product service providers may design, produce, and distribute the systems, also known as postage evidencing systems. We are conducting an audit, and seeking customer feedback, to determine the effectiveness of the management of various meter activities such as meter movement, setting, customer information, and meter history related to customer and postal meter activity.
• Accuracy of data contained in the eFMS – 12YG006DA000. We are reviewing the integrity of data maintained in the electronic Facilities Management System (eFMS). The eFMS is used to manage the Postal Service’s real property inventory and administer all property-related projects, such as acquisition, construction, repairs, and disposal. In addition, eFMS manages all aspects of the property leasing program including lease preparation and out-leasing/sub-leasing excess space.
• Efficiency Review of the Los Angeles NDC – 12XG010NO000. The Office of Inspector General has issued at least 20 reports on the efficiency of mail processing operations. These reviews revealed that Postal Service management had not evaluated operational efficiency by assessing performance against productivity targets and other plants and adjusting staff and equipment resources in response to workload changes. Consequently, more workhours than necessary were used to process the mail. Our audit objective is to evaluate the efficiency of the Los Angeles Network Distribution Center and provide specific recommendations to improve the plant’s operattional efficeincy.  Are there opportunities to increase the use of automation to process the mail? Can schedules be adjusted to better match the flow of mail? What role does mail preparation play in the ease of processing the mail? What changes are likely to occur in operations if the Postal Service moves forward with plans to relax delivery standards?
• Enterprise Data Warehouse Infrastructure Security Assessment – 12RR004IT000. The Postal Service’s Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) provides a single source of data across the organization to a wide variety of users. The data can be modified in a variety of ways for a deeper analysis, which could lead to additional revenue, reduced costs, and improved business practices. Several Postal Service organizations actively use EDW, including Retail, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Network Operations, and Facilities. The system was implemented in February 2001 and can be assessed by any Postal employee with corporate information security access. Our project objective is to identify the controls and assess the risk associated with EDW
• Postal Service Use of Source Evaluation Tools in the Purchasing Process – 12YG012CA000. The Office of Audit, Supply Management plans to conduct a review of the Postal Service’s use of source evaluation tools in the purchasing process. Best Value, expressed through solicitation evaluation factors, is the basis of all Postal Service sourcing decisions. Past Performance and supplier capability are mandatory evaluation factors and some form of price analysis is required for every purchase. Do you believe the evaluation factors currently used in requests for proposals properly achieve a determination of best value for the Postal Service? Also, please share your concerns or comments about the current evaluation process?

Reuters: The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. . . . The government could sell a stake in Russian Post to raise up to 40 million roubles ($1.32 million) to implement a 220-billion-rouble ($7.27 billion) project to reform postal services in the country.

4-Traders: Singapore Post Limited ("SingPost") today announced its unaudited results for the third quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2011. Group revenue saw a marginal increase to S$149.4 million in the third quarter of FY2011/12 against the backdrop of a slowing economy. Logistics revenue rose by 5.2% to S$57.0 million with the growth in Speedpost business, e- fulfilment activities in Quantium Solutions and vPOST shipping business. The Retail segment posted an increase in revenue of 5.1% to S$17.6 million as higher contributions from retail products and online store Clout Shoppe offset the drop in agency services and financial services. Mail revenue dipped 3.4% to S$98.0 million due to declines in domestic mail and international mail volumes.

PRNewswire: Cenveo, Inc. today announced that it has agreed to sell its Forms and Business Documents Group ("Documents Group") to Ennis, Inc., manufacturer of printed business products & apparel headquartered in Midlothian, Texas. This divestiture allows Cenveo to focus on our core operations including labels, specialty packaging, envelopes, print and content management. Statements made in this release, other than those concerning historical financial information, may be considered "forward-looking statements," which are based upon current expectations and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's expectations include, without limitation . . . factors affecting the United States postal services impacting demand for our products . . . the availability of the Internet and other electronic media affecting demand for our products . . . .

TVNZ: New Zealand Post Group, the state-owned postal service, is increasing its postage rates for domestically self-wrapped parcels and introducing an additional charge for rural deliveries in March, to cover rising petrol costs and inflation. The postage rates will increase from five to 11%, while parcels destined for rural delivery addresses will incur an addition charge of $2.80, effective March 1.

Financial Times: TNT Post, Royal Mail’s largest private sector rival, plans to go head-to-head with the state-owned postal operator by launching its own delivery service for bulk and direct mail. The move would break Royal Mail’s near monopoly of the “final mile” of delivery of letters to homes and offices and could create thousands of jobs at TNT. The company has trialled the service in Liverpool and is looking at launching it in other urban centres.

Save the Post Office: Contract post offices look like a cheap and easy way for the Postal Service to outsource its retail postal business. Just put the post office in a private business or community center, and don't worry about paying rent or postal employees. There's still a post office in town, the Postal Service has met its universal service obligation, and a lot of money has been saved. But contract post offices are not the panacea that postal management, big mailers, and advocates of privatization would like to think they are. They have many problems, and their numbers just keep declining.

The Hindu: Corporates and government departments keep its services going, but the Postal Department is clearly losing its individual customers. A postmaster who did not want to be named said: “The number of individual customers has reduced to 50 per cent compared to two decades ago.

January 29, 2012 

Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual

January 28, 2012 

TheIsMoney: Companies have attacked Royal Mail for axeing compensation for packages lost in transit. Changes introduced this month mean firms with a contract to use the Royal Mail standard business service can no longer claim for lost parcels. If they want guaranteed compensation, they must pay extra, either for special delivery – at upwards of £5.45 – or for Royal Mail’s tracking service.

Business Standard: The department of posts will formulate a detailed project report for setting up a bank, in the XII Plan. The department will apply for a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India. Post Bank of India may be set up with the required authorised capital of Rs 700 crore, the official added.

Austin YourNewsNow: For the last 20 years Brent Martin and his family run what is called the ‘contract postal unit.’ Last year, Martin said he first received word their location was among 20 contract offices to be closed down as part of an agreement made between the United Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union. Martin said that was the last he heard of the situation until several weeks ago when they received notice that their location was to be closed down at the end of March. American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey said they do not want to see the location closed either. However, the union does take issue with contract employees staffing the facility. Instead, they want postal workers to take over. Guffey said the contracts are typically given to businesses like stores to provide some postal services as a convenience to their customers. The fact that there are P.O. boxes at the location makes it an 'improperly opened contract postal unit'. The news was a blow to Martin who has become a part of the community over the years.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Plum Line in the Washington Post provides another example how mail outshines broadcast media in political campaigns. Mitt Romney's campaign is currently running a mail campaign challenging Newt Gingrich's emotional stability. As Greg Sargent Points out This the sort of attack that's probably too hot for the Romney campaign to be directly associated with on the airwaves, which may explain why it's being pushed via mail, which is relatively under the radar.

eGov Monitor: Alan Pickering CBE has been appointed the independent chair of the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme (RMSPS) by Postal Affairs Minister Edward Davey. His appointment is a key step towards the transfer of Royal Mail's historic pension liabilities from Royal Mail to Government. Subject to the European Commission's approval of state aid, the RMSPS – a new public sector pension scheme – will assume the bulk of Royal Mail's historic pension liabilities.

♪♫"Oh I heard it -- Heard It -- Yes, I heard it through the grapevine. . . ." ♫♪   Senate action on S. 1789 most likely will be put off until the week of February 6.

Post & Parcel: Poland's national postal service Polish Post has lost a key court battle against a private sector competitor it claimed was delivering mail in violation of the country's monopoly protections.

Post & Parcel: The UK government has taken a step towards taking on Royal Mail's historic pension liabilities by appointing a new independent chair of the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme. Postal Affairs Minister Ed Davey appointed pension industry stalwart Alan Pickering to chair the scheme, which will assume the bulk of Royal Mail's historic liabilities if the European Commission approves the proposal under EU state aid rules. The government wants to take over Royal Mail's historic pension liabilities as it shapes up the organisation for privatisation. Royal Mail will be left with a smaller, fully-funded pension plan, ministers have said.

Wall Street Journal: United Parcel Service Inc. has become the latest big U.S. company to change its pension accounting to a methodology considered more transparent but that can add volatility to corporate profits from year to year. Atlanta-based UPS said it will record an $827 million pretax charge for the fourth quarter as it changes to a mark-to-market system of accounting, in which it recognizes significant gains and losses in its pension plans on an annual basis instead of spreading the effect over time. It said the move has no impact on benefits paid to plan participants or its pension funding.

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