PostCom welcomes its newest member: Amazon Fulfillment Services 333 Boren Avenue N Seattle, WA 98109 represented by Brad Obert, Senior Transportation Manager

January 9, 2012 

Wall Street Journal: White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley has resigned his post just a year into his tenure and will be succeeded by budget director Jack Lew, senior administration officials said Monday.

Uni-Global Union: More than 60 representatives of big companies, postal users, postal operators and postal regulators at the invitation of Commissioner Barnier spent one day together to discuss the future needs in the postal industry. UNI Europa Post & Logistics representing postal workers in the forum, had been invited after a personal meeting with Barnier. Commissioner Barnier in his opening speech emphasised the social link that needed to be maintained and the need for territorial cohesion of postal services. He said that now liberalisation of postal services in Europe is a reality it would be the right time to assess, evaluate and make corrections if necessary. He emphasised strongly that reforms won’t work without being social responsible. At the meeting he immediately gave the floor to the Trade Union representatives and he showed that he is aware that Trade Unions need to play an important role in the process . In five round tables during the forum, the participants discussed the needs of big and residential customers, business and SMEs perspectives, the role of e-commerce and a sustainable postal market. All of the round tables repeated the fact that high quality, affordable price, reliable, fast and flexible postal services which cover the whole geography of the country are necessary. The users also made a plea for a maximum number of delivery days and to ensure that operators have an efficient "returns" function. Despite the high quality of postal services, there is always space for improvement like delivery of registered letters and parcels, track & trace, or the cross-border delivery is certainly a field which has to be improved.

European Commission:

• Study on intra-community cross-border parcel delivery
• Study on Appropriate Methodologies to Better Measure Consumer Preferences for Postal Services

The Independent: When did you last get an old fashioned letter? Not one of those tiresome newsletters-plus-family photo that increasingly pass for Christmas cards here (and which, maddeningly, won't even stand up on the mantelpiece) but a real letter, from a friend, relative or lover, with a stamp, a postmark and – unlike email – with privacy guaranteed? The answer, probably, is not for a while. And if so, you will start to understand the desperate plight of the United States Postal Service, the largest mail system on earth, whose origin predates even the Declaration of Independence.

BusinessWire: Aquilent, the recognized leading provider of Web-based solutions shaping the next generation of technology for the federal government, today announced that it has been awarded a contract to support USPS.com Daily Operations for the United States Postal Service (USPS). This contract builds on Aquilent's 10 year plus support role for USPS.com.

Times Online: The Postal Department has taken steps to hold back letters and other postal goods that have been sent to Sri Lanka with Pro LTTE stamps, local reports said. Post Master General M K B Dissanayake speaking to a local radio station said that investigations will be carried out as to where these were sent from and to whom they were directed to. Pro LTTE stamps will be removed from them and the relevant letters and parcels will be sent to the intended receivers.

Post & Parcel: India Post is looking to improve its air links with different parts of the Indian subcontinent, in a new agreement with national airline Air India. The postal operator has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government-owned airline to build on its “Logistics Post Air” express parcel distribution service.

Truth-out.org: Whatever caused the financial woes of the USPS, there is another way to mitigate the crisis than slashing employee benefits and customer services. In a December 21, 2011, article, Tim Fernholz suggested that instead of focusing on cuts, the post office should approach the problem from a business perspective and find a new way to make money. One way to keep the USPS alive, he says, is for it to include basic banking services in its product line, providing a "public option" in banking.

WJBD: Democrat U.S Senator Dick Durbin made a stop in Centralia Monday to discuss jobs, unemployment, and the United States Postal Service Consolidation study on the Centralia Processing Facility. Senator Durbin met with Centralia Mayor Tom Ashby, City Manager Dan Ramey, and the Centralia Councilmen to discuss what's happening in the community.

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

·         Postcode and Geocodes – Changing the Address System? Traditional addressing systems have generally offered an effective means to identify pickup and delivery locations. Recent technological innovations related to digital mapping have led some to consider adopting an addressing system based on geocodes. Would the adoption of geocodes improve the current address system? Share your thoughts on our blog.

Target Marketing: According to Epsilon Targeting's 2011 Channel Preference Study, "The Formula for Success: Preference and Trust," 60 percent of U.S. consumers and 64 percent of Canadian consumers enjoy checking their mailboxes each day, signaling an emotional connection with direct mail. The study, which polled 2,226 U.S. consumers and 2,574 Canadian consumers, also reveals that 50 percent of U.S. respondents and 48 percent of Canadian respondents pay more attention to postal mail than email.

Target Marketing: It has been said you should never underestimate the value of a good first impression. That's not only true with in-person introductions—it's also true in direct mail. There are typically three main components of a direct mail piece: the message, the creative, and the offer. In most direct marketing campaigns, your first impression is made by the images and you choose the rest of the creative to support your message. Before your target audience reads a word of text in your mail piece or postcard, their eyes will focus on the images they contain. Too often, these images are the same overused stock photos that appear in hundreds of other direct marketing pieces-images. Because of their ubiquity, these images fail to grab attention or break through the clutter.

Target Marketing: The always-on, always-up digital culture that has been so readily adopted by younger Americans is having an impact on direct mail, according Mintel Comperemedia, a firm that provides competitive intelligence services. The firm reports that direct mail volume to consumers from life, health and property/casualty insurers is down 11 percent in Q3 2011 compared to Q3 2010.

MyRecordJournal: Connecticut Color Inc. processes about 6 million advertising pieces of mail a month at its plant on Pomeroy Avenue for national clients, including Home Depot and BJ's Wholesale Club. The volume is so large, a representative from the U.S. Postal Service's processing center in Wallingford spends between 10 and 15 hours per week certifying Connecticut Color's mail before it's sent to other network distribution centers, said company President Rick Herr. But the U.S. Postal Service is considering closing the center and others nationwide to save costs as it struggles with declining mail volume. A recent study showed the U.S. Post Office would save about $23.7 million by closing the Wallingford center and eliminating close to 300 jobs. "Absolutely, this would impact us," Herr said. Herr fears delays getting postal personnel to the plant, that may now have to come from a Hartford processing and distribution center.

Worcester Telegram: A flood of red ink has swept through the U.S. Postal Service in recent years, producing annual operating losses measured in the billions of dollars. In response, the USPS has worked to reduce costs and improve efficiency, but its efforts simply cannot keep pace with a historic change in how Americans meet their communication needs. Closures and deep cuts are inevitable, and must take place as soon as practically possible.

Altavista Journal: The mail, already slow by today's electronic standards, could become even slower under sweeping changes proposed by the U.S. Postal Service. Scheduled to begin this spring, the changes would virtually eliminate any chance of first-class mail arriving the next day, postal officials said, and also would mean delays for newspapers and magazines.

Businesslife: The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) has agreed that Jersey Post may increase stamp prices in 2012. The existing price control on Jersey Post ended in December and the JCRA had proposed a one-year extension. The decision follows a 28 day consultation which has now closed. The proposal to allow Jersey Post to raise prices follows the announcement by the UK Treasury that it is to remove Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) for imports to the UK from the Channel Islands from 1 April 2012.

January 8, 2012 

Business Daily Africa: Postal Corporation of Kenya’s fortunes dipped further in the three months to September as increased Internet use and widespread use of mobile phones reduce the need to post letters. Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) data shows that delivery of letters has been on a downward trend with 20.5 million letters sent in the quarter to September compared with 31.6 million in a similar period last year.

Daily Mirror: Sri Lanka’s postal authorities have decided to defy rules and regulations stipulated by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) when dealing with letters and parcels with stamps bearing the emblem of the LTTE and the image of its late leader, officials said yesterday. Already, there are reports that members of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora have issued personalised stamps bearing the emblem of the beleaguered LTTE in France, Britain and Canada. First, it was reported in France, and the issue was taken up diplomatically. According to the UPU Treaty, stamps of member nations are accepted for the entire international route of mailing.

DMM Advisory:  IMb™ Services Update. PostalOne!^® Release 29.0 Update — PostalOne!^® Release 29 successfully deployed to production on January 8, 2012. Identified known issues, with business workarounds as applicable, are posted on RIBBS^® under the Major/Minor Release Schedule tab/January 2012 Release/Release Known Issues. Reminder - Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) — Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST^®) Release 19.0 and PostalOne! Release 29.0 will deploy to the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) on Monday, January 9, 2012. FAST TEM will be unavailable from 8 a.m. through 12 Noon CST and the PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4 a.m. through 4 p.m. CST.

FedBusOpps.gov: "U.S. Postal Service Sources Sought Notice Network Optimization" The U.S. Postal Service announced, in September 2011, a number of proposals designed to significantly reduce its operational costs. One proposal under consideration is a study to redesign the mail processing and transportation network. This study may result in consolidation of processing centers from 461 mail processing facilities to approximately 200 facilities. As a part of the review and planning stage, it is important to understand the sources available in the transportation and distribution industries that can meet the potential future demands. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to solicit responses from interested suppliers to determine which are capable of providing potential transportation management services to the U.S. Postal Service. If the Postal Service moves forward with the consolidation, the suppliers may be required to route trucks to transport mail from processing and distribution centers to post offices within a broad service area. The supplier also may be required to provide a cross-dock distribution hub between facilities to consolidate mail for distribution to down stream offices. The service requirements will include the critical entry times (CETs) and dispatch of value (DOV) times for processing and distribution centers (P&DCs), Mailers, and the Administrative Offices (AOs). The day-by-day estimated volume of mail to be transported also will be provided as a tool for the suppliers to determine the labor and vehicle requirements for the service. Suppliers may be required to load and unload vehicles when requested by postal officials. The number and type of vehicles required will be determined by the suppliers based on the estimated volumes in the future service requirements. The suppliers will be required to have readily available sufficient stand-by equipment to perform all transportation requirements, to permit vehicle maintenance, and to prevent delays in emergencies such as mechanical failures and poor weather conditions.

January 7, 2012 

San Francisco Chronicle: $1.4 billion. That's how much money the U.S. Postal Service paid FedEx to deliver mail via cargo jets in fiscal 2010. FedEx carries express, priority and first-class mail on its planes, making the company both a partner and rival to the Postal Service. Now that the agency is looking to slash its budget, airfreight is seen as a place to cut. Sending fewer packages by plane could reduce the payments to FedEx by about $400 million a year, according to SJ Consulting Group.

News.az: New projects are implemented in Azerbaijan for raising the quality of postal services by Azerpocht. According to sources from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies, e-postal services are also among them. This service will help the prompt delivery of a letter from one address to another.

The Star: Pos Malaysia will continue to offer the 50 sen flat rate for the mailing of Chinese New Year cards throughout the country. Group chief executive officer Datuk Khalid Abdol Rahman said the offer was in line with the 1Malaysia aspiration and encouraged people to send greeting cards to their family and friends. "The rate is 16 to 28% cheaper compared to an ordinary 50gram mail," he said.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Postal Regulatory Commission NOTICES New Postal Products , 1089–1090 [2012–145] [TEXT] [PDF]

Wall Street Journal: Federal Reserve officials this month will begin detailing their plans for short-term interest rates, a move that could show that the central bank's easy-money policies will remain in place for years and give the economy a boost.

Highland Community News: The Postal Regulatory Commission has recommended that the U.S. Postal Service take another look at its approach to closing post offices, supporting many criticisms made by National Newspaper Association in its fall 2011 testimony.

Attention Postal One! Users:  

• REMINDER: PostalOne!® Release 29.0 Deployment will require an extended maintenance window from 8 p.m. CST on Saturday, January 7, 2012, through 10 a.m. CST Sunday, January 8, 2012. During this maintenance window, PostalOne!® and eDoc submission via Mail.XML® and Mail.dat® — will be unavailable.
• Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) — PostalOne! Release 29.0 will deploy to the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) on Monday, January 9, 2012. PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4 a.m. through 4 p.m. CST.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• Docket No. RM2012-3: Institutional Cost Contribution Requirement for Competitive Products "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Evaluate the Institutional Cost Contribution Requirement for Competitive Products"
• Docket No. N2012-1: "United States Postal Service Notice of Scheduling of Technical Conference In Relation to Testimony of Witness Emily Rosenberg"

Department of State: "A Message from Dennis Delehanty, U.S. Candidate for Deputy Director General Post at the Universal Postal Union"

January 6, 2012 

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway this week announced the start of Nanci E. Langley's term as Vice Chairman of the Commission, succeeding Commissioner Mark Acton.

PR- USA.NET: MailCallOnline.com announces the launch of its web-based greeting card service. Customers choose a card from a selection of special occasion and holiday-theme greeting cards, insert a personal message and MailCallOnline.com sends it to their friend or loved one on the date of their choosing—postage included. For $2.50 a card, MailCallOnline.com helps families stay in touch with often out-of-sight populations such as the armed forces, the elderly, and the incarcerated.

Post & Parcel: Turkish Postal Service PTT is extending its network of automated teller machines, signing up manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf to provide 600 new units.

BtoB: The U.S. Postal Service has been granted permission to allow postage credit billing to direct mailers rather than requiring postage prepayment. In a decision this week, the Postal Regulatory Commission granted the USPS' request that it provide credit lines to direct mailers that enter into a negotiated service agreement with it, giving them the ability to pay postage via Automated Clearing House (online) methods. Currently, direct mailers pay upfront into an account for anticipated postage.

Post & Parcel: The new relationship between Brazil’s Post and Telegraph Company (ECT) and the country’s largest bank, Banco do Brasil, has gotten off to a roaring start. Just four days after taking over from rival Bradesco in running ECT’s Postal Bank from the start of this month, Banco do Brasil has seen more than 30,000 new accounts opened by postal customers. On the first day of the new five-and-a-half year contract, the Postal Bank performed more than 270,000 transactions, the bank said, as it reported that transfer of operations was a “total success”.

Bloomberg: FedEx Corp., the delivery company that is both a partner and rival to the U.S. Postal Service, may see a federal mail- flying contract drop by more than 27 percent in 2013 as the agency restructures. Revenue from carrying Postal Service express, priority and first-class mail in FedEx cargo jets may shrink to less than $1 billion annually once the current agreement expires and a new accord is negotiated, according to Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group Inc. in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. A Postal Service goal of saving $2.1 billion a year isn’t reachable “without making some changes in the way they move things,” Jindel said in a telephone interview. That is “likely to result in a reduction of the number of packages that they will need transported by air.”

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The December Jobs report reported today showed that 200,000 jobs were created in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5%. This was better news than most forecasters expected and stock futures jumped on the news. The detailed industry data clearly shows that the postal market drove jobs growth. If you look at the jobs growth on an unadjusted basis, the industry added 89,400 jobs in December of which 85,900 were generated in the private sector. This larger jobs figure illustrates the scale of the challenge that FedEx, United Parcel Service and the Postal Service have in expanding their workforce during the holiday season in order to serve the peak demand in business to consumer parcel shipments. The significant growth in jobs associated with delivering mail and parcels does not fully describe the impact that the postal market had in the improving job pictures. The Postal industry has long touted its importance in the economy. The December jobs growth shows how maintaining its health is needed to keep the recovery on track.

The Joplin Globe: If the U.S. Postal Service closes the mail processing center in Springfield, jobs in Southwest Missouri will be forfeited and delivery standards will no longer be acceptable. And a mail delivery system that’s already battling to keep pace in the electronic world will become even more obsolete. Hardly a winning business model, is it? Yet, that’s how USPS managers are attempting to address a service-based operation — by taking away the service.

Labor Notes: The push to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution and delivery network is a scheme by corporate privatizers to crush the largest organized workforce in federal employment, pick apart a trusted government service, and grab the most profitable parts of the business for their own enrichment. Consider that tens of millions of Americans used to bank their money in the Postal Savings System until it was abolished in 1966 because of pressure by the banking industry. Despite a drumbeat of media myth-making to the contrary, the Postal Service is still very busy. Letter carriers deliver 170 billion pieces of mail each year. The Postal Service is at the center of this country’s $1.3 trillion mailing industry. Rural communities, the elderly, and many Americans who do not live online still rely on mail delivery and pickup.

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

• Review FINAL USPS Folded Self-Mailer & Un-Enveloped Mailpieces Mailing Standards Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/155878697
• The Postal Regulatory Commission has concluded that the Postal Service, if it wishes to pursue its Exigency Request, must complete the submission of its entire case to the Commission. This is in response to the November 7 filing by the Postal Service indicating it would proceed with the Exigency Request, the November 14 filing by a group of mailers, including the Association for Postal Commerce, and finally the November 21 filing by the Postal Service of two witness statements.
• The Postal Regulatory Commission has analyzed the Postal Service’s Retail Access Optimization Initiative, a program that identifies more than 3,650 post offices, retail annexes, stations, and branches for possible closing. The Commission has evaluated the Postal Service’s presentation and the evidence submitted by interested members of the public, and finds that the Retail Access Optimization Initiative is likely to affect service on a nationwide basis. The primary Commission finding is that notwithstanding its name, the Retail Access Optimization Initiative is not designed to optimize the retail network.
• The Postal Service published its unaudited November results with the Postal Regulatory Commission. USPS lost $1.3 billion in November 2011. The Postal Service’s controllable operating income for the month was $40 million. The loss is due to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund prepayment of $925 million and a workers compensation adjustment of $369 million.
• The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act requires the Postal Service to submit an Annual Compliance Report (ACR) 90 days after the close of its fiscal year, which runs from October 1 - September 30. The ACR demonstrates that all postal products during fiscal year 2010 comply with all applicable requirements of Title 39.
• The USPS on December 29, 2011, submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) its FY 2011 Annual Compliance Report (ACR), included in which was its FY 2011 Service Performance Report. The USPS as part of the report offers reasons why its service performance targets were not met in many product categories and its mitigation plans.
• According to the Courier, Express, and Postal Observer, “with the end of the year at hand, the Courier Express and Postal Observer brings out its crystal ball and makes its predictions for 2012. As with all forecasts made on this website, the predictions are for entertainment purposes only, they are not designed to encourage illegal betting on the future of the industry.”
• For the most part, mailers cheered when the U.S. Postal Service announced “Second Ounce Free” for bulk-mailed First Class letters. But guest columnist Robert W. Mitchell points out below that the pricing strategy is unlikely to be profitable for the Postal Service, is seemingly unfair to some mailers, and does not follow good pricing practices.
• According to the Courier, Express, and Postal Observer, “yesterday, Dead Tree Edition, gave Congress the John Adams award for how useless members of Congress in finding a real solution to the Postal Service’s financial problem. He notes that Congress deserves this award because not only has Congress been useful, some of the legislative changes members have proposed and appear likely to be part of any postal legislation passed this year could make the problem worse not better. I would argue that a more appropriate award would have been the Mark Twain award who looked at Congress as a mix of idiots and petty criminals.”
• PRC publishes annual report. USPS files FY2012 Integrated Financial Plan. Senator Collins’ statement on PRC’s opinion on Post Office closures. PRC approves shipping services price change. USPS submits monthly IMb progress report. Postal woes spell opportunity for online banking and bill pay. Senator Carper to host postal telephone town hall. Lots of newspaper deals, but not much hope. Dead Tree hands out the John Adams award. Gamefly complaint has been reinstated. Rolando: Issa misleads on postal service. PostCom’s newest members.
• Updates from the Domestic Mail Manual.
• Updates from the Federal Register that affect the mailing industry.
• An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Don’t miss PostCom’s workshare discounts charts at the end of this bulletin.

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

Reuters: Text-messaging has long been a big-time profit generator for U.S. mobile operators, but they now risk losing these profits as consumers find cheaper ways to communicate. SMS -- short message service -- is no longer all the rage, but it still generates an estimated 12 percent of service revenue for U.S. operators. Now, with many consumers turning to low-cost alternatives like iMessenger, BlackBerry Messenger and Facebook's mobile messaging service, operators like Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel risk losing a steady, superbly profitable source of income. Some European carriers have already seen texting alternatives hurt their financials.

Auctionbytes: In an effort to expand the availability of its services while pressing ahead with deep budget cuts, the U.S. Postal Service is preparing to begin trials of a new automated kiosk system for shipping and receiving packages. Dubbed gopost, the lockers will enable postal customers to receive packages securely, as well as offering a drop-off point for outgoing parcels. The Postal Service is currently conducting technical tests of gopost kiosks in seven locations in Northern Virginia, according to USPS spokeswoman Patricia Licata, who emphasized that the program is in a very preliminary stage.

Heraldnet: Now that the U.S. Postal Service's proposed cuts and facility closings have been postponed until spring, and are being challenged by the Postal Regulatory Commission, perhaps some thoughtfulness can be included in the process. Offering worse service to save an organization from bankruptcy is not good business. Even if every American sent a first-class letter every day starting today, it wouldn't dent the $14.1 billion in operating losses expected this year. The sale of stamps and the shipping of boxes can't ever keep pace with funding pensions.

Government Executive: Postal reform legislation could move quickly in both chambers when lawmakers return to work later this month. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which approved a postal reform bill in October 2011, plans to file its report on H.R. 2309 in a matter of days, Ann Fisher, director of public affairs and government relations at the Postal Regulatory Commission, said during a meeting Thursday. Ali Ahmad, a spokesman for the House committee, confirmed that a report would be filed soon. Fisher also said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is eager to move that chamber's postal reform legislation early in the second session of the 112th Congress. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved its postal bill in November. The House officially convenes Jan. 17, and the Senate returns to work Jan. 23. "The Postal Service can become profitable again if Congress passes comprehensive legislation to provide us with a more flexible business model so we can respond better to a changing marketplace," Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Donahoe said in previous statements. "To return to profitability we must reduce our annual costs by $20 billion by the end of 2015. We continue to take aggressive cost-cutting actions in areas under our control and urgently need Congress to do its part to get us the rest of the way there." [EdNote: Keep that mark in mind -- $20 billion by the end of 2015. Thus far there is no legislative proposal that has been introduced thus far, which if enacted, would get the Postal Service to that end.]

January 5, 2012 

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: The Postal Regulatory Commission has an exciting employment opportunity for a highly motivated, highly skilled person with extensive and varied experience in consumer relations and communications.

Business News Daily: The U.S. Postal Service's decision last month to eliminate next-day delivery of first-class mail may cause a cash-flow crunch for small businesses by making it harder for them to collect quickly from their customers, new research shows. But, experts say, there are steps that companies can take to avoid taking a hit to accounts receivable when the post office makes it change.

Gulf News: Emirates Post plans to expand its services throughout the country, Abdullah Mohammad Al Ashram, the Emirates Post chief executive officer, told Gulf News. Emirates Post, the sole provider of postal services in the UAE, has an extensive network of 140 post offices and offers over 55 products and a number of other services. "Emirates Post will be able to deliver to and collect mail to customers who live in villas or apartments anywhere in the UAE by having a personal box fitted to their compound wall from this year," Al Ashram said. For the first time, residents will have a cost-effective system through which mail will be delivered directly to their homes, Al Ashram said.

National Newswire Service: Postal reform legislation could move quickly in both chambers when lawmakers return to work later this month. [EdNote: I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting for Congress to actually pass something, if I were you.]

The Union Star: The mail, already slow by today's electronic standards, could become even slower under sweeping changes proposed by the U.S. Postal Service. Scheduled to begin next spring, the changes would virtually eliminate any chance of first-class mail arriving the next day, postal officials said, and also would mean delays for newspapers and magazines.

PRNewswire: SourceLink, a top 5 largest privately held CRM/Direct Marketing Agency and top 3 GPO Supplier, announced today the launch of a mobile app that works in conjunction with their proprietary mail tracking tool, MultiTrac™. The app has been developed for the Android and is available now in the Android marketplace free for all MultiTrac™ users. There are plans to release an app for the Apple platform in the first half of 2012.

DirectMarketing IQ: To survive in direct mail, you need a few tricks up your sleeve for improving results when time is short and the budget is lean. Here are 12 quick, easy and cheap testing ideas.

Target Marketing: As the nation's banks and financial firms emerge from the wreckage of the financial crisis, they are working out how best to lend to people with tarnished credit. Despite the surge, direct-mail solicitations remain far below pre-crisis levels.

4-Traders: Stamps.com® (Nasdaq:STMP), the leading provider of USPS to over 400,000 customers, today announced that it has launched PC Postage Version 9.0 software. Version 9.0 adds many new time-saving features that will allow e-commerce sellers to build more efficient mailingshipping operations. Now shippers can automatically print packing slipsshipping labels separately when using the Batch printing feature. In addition, e-commerce sellers can insure their packages up to $10,000 in value to protect their shipments. The software download is available for free to newexisting customers.

The Multichannel Content Blog: Print catalogs: Taboo? Are they "obsolete" and "old-fashioned"? Or "a unique opportunity to engage at new levels while enhancing your online activities"? The role of the print catalog continues to evolve in the omnichannel marketing environment. It isn't dead yet, and it certainly isn't taboo.

Finex tra: By extending its service offering in the self-service sales channel and installing new ATMs, the Turkish postal service (PTT) wants to win new customers.

ERR News: Postal service Eesti Post received international mail shipping bags from the UK on January 4, in which 72 envelopes had been torn open. According to the company, the tampered envelopes were all regular maxi letters mailed from the UK before the Christmas holidays.

Air Cargo World: Despite recently approved free-trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama, only 24 percent of small- and mid-sized businesses in the U.S. are currently engaged in international trade, a UPS study found. And while this may seem like good business practice, it's actually riskier than the alternative, according to a UPS press release. UPS' "Perceptions of Global Trade" study, which surveyed more than 1,000 SMBs, discovered that many of these businesses refrained from exporting goods due to the bleak economic outlook. But this is actually faulty logic, UPS International President Dan Brutto explained.

Now hear this: "This Week In Postal".........the latest podcast posted now! (Link corrected.)

MtStandard: The U.S. Postal Service needs to work toward balancing their books while fulfilling their mission of delivering mail to homes, businesses, hospitals and schools throughout the United States, including in our rural areas. Recently, under the banner of fiscal responsibility, the USPS has targeted more than 650 post offices for closure, including 85 in Montana, all in small, rural communities in our state. No one suggests the Postal Service shouldn't tighten their belt. In fact, they should consider eliminating post offices where it makes sense, in places where alternate delivery options are readily available and affordable or where other post offices exist within a short distance. Unfortunately, the closure list the USPS made public has all the signs of being developed within the urban-centric confines of Washington DC with little input from rural America. Fully twelve communities in a five-county region of northern Montana have been targeted as places where a postal presence is no longer needed, according to the Postal Service. From Loma to Zortman and from Highwood to Hingham, residents of these communities, and the surrounding area, would no longer have access in their community to the services of a post office. Closing these facilities would mean not just the loss of a postal presence in the impacted community, but in most cases a drive of dozens of miles to a post office.

New York Times: Along with the residents of other tiny towns across the country, from Challenge, Calif., to Economy, Ind., the people of Fox learned last summer that their post office was being studied for possible closing by the United States Postal Service. It was one of the more than 3,600 deemed by the postal authorities to have too little a workload — less than $27,500 annual revenue is one such measurement — or to be too close to another office to justify keeping open by an agency that is billions of dollars in debt and facing a steeply and steadily declining revenue stream. The response, here as elsewhere, has been swift. Letters have been sent, petitions drawn up. People have taken day trips to their representatives' offices, bringing so much political pressure that Congress persuaded the Postal Service last month to declare a moratorium on the closings until May.

Dead Tree Edition: For the most part, mailers cheered when the U.S. Postal Service announced "Second Ounce Free" for bulk-mailed First Class letters. But guest columnist Robert W. Mitchell points out below that the pricing strategy is unlikely to be profitable for the Postal Service, is seemingly unfair to some mailers, and does not follow good pricing practices.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Docket No. MC2012-1: On December 20, 2011, the Postal Service filed a notice pursuant to 39 CFR 3020.90 and 3020.91 concerning a classification change related to negotiated service agreements (NSAs). The Commission accepts the classification changes described in the Postal Service's Notice with the clarification that to the extent the option is available in NSAs it must be presented clearly. Description of classification change. The Postal Service proposes to clarify that it may offer alternative postage payment methods for customers of market dominant and competitive NSAs. Id. at 1. Changes would only apply to customers that sign an NSA with the Postal Service which includes a customer-specific postage payment term. The Notice includes proposed revisions to the Mail Classification Schedule (MCS). Id. at 3. The classification changes would become effective on January 5, 2012.

Satori Software: Satori Software has announced the immediate availability of an Unlimited Walk Sequence processing add-on for its Bulk Mailer® desktop mailing software. Now, for one flat annual price, mailers can append Walk Sequence data to all their mailing lists, which makes it possible to achieve greater postal discounts. Walk Sequence data enables a list to be sorted into the order of an individual postal carrier's route. Mailers can increase discounts on qualified high-density mailings by at least 4.2 cents per letter and up to 15 cents per flat. Because the service is accessed within Bulk Mailer, incorporating Walk Sequence into daily mailing preparation processes requires few changes to existing settings. Processing turnaround is fast — generally 15 minutes or less.

Kansas City Business Journal: Plans by the U.S. Postal Service to do away with next-day delivery of first-class mail could prove costly for America's large companies. A new report released by REL Consulting, a division of Miami-based The Hackett Group, suggests the lag time created as a result of the cuts could cost a typical large U.S. company up to $100 million a year by making it harder to quickly collect payments from customers. Kansas City-area companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and DST Systems Inc. have been paying close attention to USPS actions.

Direct Marketing News: The 2012 campaign season is already heating up, and while politicians will be buzzing about their social media and digital marketing tactics, direct mail is a stalwart for political campaign marketing that isn't going anywhere. With the cost of postage going up, expect political direct mail pieces to be smaller this year than in year's past.

Post & Parcel: Finland's Itella Group has sold its printing, enveloping, scanning and archiving business Itella Information A/S to the Danish IT and print services company KMD. The Finnish postal company is in the process of cutting EUR 100m from its operating costs over the next years as it faces increased competition and declining mail volumes.

Federal News Radio: The Postal Service's recent decision to delay the closing of hundreds of mail processing centers and thousands of local post offices until May has given critics plenty of time to question the agency's strategy to climb out of the red. "The way that they frame the problem and the language they use have actually created a sense of dismay among the biggest mail users and may not be as helpful to them as a somewhat less-emotional presentation of their situation," Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway told Federal News Radio. The Postal Service's prediction that it would end fiscal 2012 with a $14.1 billion loss if it did not receive help from Congress was "a little inaccurate," because it included billions of dollars in pension-fund payments that it delayed from last year, she said. "The key for all of us will be to look at the cash flow of the Postal Service, rather than the big dollar amounts that they say they're losing," she said. "We want to make sure it has enough cash to pay its contractors and employees, and buy the gasoline it needs to deliver mail to people."

Huntington News: Citing a recent study that found overly optimistic savings projections and an insufficient attention to community needs, U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) Tuesday called on the Postal Service to go back to the drawing board on its efforts to close and consolidate postal facilities in southern West Virginia.

January 4, 2012 

Robert Croce (a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Postal Commerce) has been named Valassis Vice President, Government Relations, effective Jan. 1, 2012. He joined Valassis in 1998 after holding positions in local, state and federal government where he served for over 10 years as Chief of Staff to a member of Congress. Building on his extensive governmental experience and Washington D.C. contact network, Robert was instrumental in expanding Valassis' impact and influence on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Congratulations, Bob!

Attention Postal One! Users:  

• REMINDER: PostalOne!® Release 29.0 Deployment will require an extended maintenance window from 8 p.m. CST on Saturday, January 7, 2012, through 10 a.m. CST Sunday, January 8, 2012. During this maintenance window, all USPS® web services accessed through the Business Customer Gateway — including PostalOne!®, Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST®), Mailer ID, Program Registration, and eDoc submission via Mail.XML® and Mail.dat® — will be unavailable.
• Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) — PostalOne! Release 29.0 will deploy to the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) on Monday, January 9, 2012. PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4 a.m. through 4 p.m. CST.
• PostalOne! Release 29.0 Webinars: The first informational webinar on Release 29 will be held for mailers on January 5, 2012. Complete webinar information, including times and log on information, will be posted on RIBBs® under Intelligent Mail Services.

AllAfrica.com: Along with the introduction of new information technology system to deliver and receive messages and packages, the National Postal Service is providing standard and speedy service, according to the Acting head of the Institution, Mr. Asmelash Gebreyesus. He explained that the new system introduced last year has made vital contribution in controlling and following up messages and deliveries of packages through the internet, in addition to enabling beneficiaries to follow up the delivery of packages and messages.

Washington Times: The U.S. Postal Service has quietly sought to "immunize" itself from Privacy Act challenges to its address-correction service, a program that gives credit, marketing and data- service providers access to updated name and address information for tens of millions of Americans. Postal officials say the program helps reduce costly undeliverable mail that can clog up the mail stream, but its failure to obtain consent to sell customers' information is raising alarm bells from within and outside the agency. A Postal Service legal memo obtained by The Washington Times proposes pursuing legislation to "immunize the current address correction services from any challenge under the Privacy Act or Section 412."

Vermont Public Radio: Vermont's congressional delegation and governor Shumlin are expected to attend a public meeting on the future of the postal office in White River Junction. The U.S. Postal Service is looking to close 3,700 post offices nationwide and 250 mail processing centers, including the one in White River Junction. The $3 billion in cuts announced in early December would slow first-class mail service, ending next-day deliveries of stamped letters.

Daily Times: Following the private curriers services, the ministry for Postal Services is also considering the delivery of mail within 24 hours across the country, sources in the ministry told Daily Times here on Tuesday.

VOCM: Plans by Canada Post to install what the corporation is calling temporary mail boxes in the St. John's area this winter are not sitting well with the postal union. Local CUP-W spokesman Craig Dyer says local members were not consulted on the matter, which Canada Post claims is a health and safety issue for their workers.

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

Swiss Post and French La Poste plan to merge their cross-border international letter mail business in a joint venture. The new company, which will be an equal subsidiary of the two postal operators should become one of the global key players in this sector.
The possible removal of subsidies to Belgian bpost (CEP- News 51/11) could lead to mass redundancies. According to information of daily news »De Tijd« (28.12.) bpost could axe up to 5,000 jobs, should the EU Commission declare the subsidies bpost received in the past as illegal.
Austrian Post's has got trouble with some of its subcontractors. In the course of a raid of the financial police in a parcel hub in Vienna, it appeared that one fifth of the 103 controlled drivers were illegally employed.
French La Poste's board passed the budget for 2012 just before the end of the past year. In the official statement La Poste predicted revenues of around 21bn euros. Market observers deem this forecast to be very conservative as La Poste recorded a turnover of 10.8bn euros in the first half-year 2011 (CEP-News 34/11). In 2010 La Poste reported a turnover of 20.9bn euos. Moreover La Poste remained also concervative concerning their earnings forecast.
PostNL and the union BvPP negotiated terms of a new labour agreement for PostNL's some 17,000 mail carriers.
German Telekom and TNT Post want to co-operate in the future. Business journal »Wirtschaftswoche« (22.12.) reported that the two companies will jointly offer digital and physical mail services to major customers.
Deutsche Post and the union ver.di struck a first agreement in the currently running collective negotiations.
The legal dispute between franchisees of UPS' store chain Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) and the integrator, which started in 2003 has reached its final stage. In December the U. S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, decided that the claimants failed to provide evidence that the conversion into UPS Stores had a negative impact on their business.

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.)

From the Federal Register: Postal Regulatory Commission NOTICES New Postal Products , 304–305 [2011–33681] [TEXT] [PDF] 305–306 [2011–33712] [TEXT] [PDF]