delivery times
Postal Service has survived past challenges — and it will again
By DAVID BECKER II
Special to the Herald-Journal
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 6:50 p.m.
The Herald-Journal’s recent editorial, “Postal progress,” begged for balance in both logic and facts about the U.S. Postal Service, our employees and customers. Here’s some food for thought for your readers.
While it’s true that the recession and the Internet are contributing to difficult financial circumstances for the Postal Service, the major cause of loss of mail volume and revenue is the economy. Let’s not all throw in the towel and turn to the Internet without considering some important facts:
* The U.S. Postal Service is our nation’s third largest employer; its employees and customers represent a functioning, viable $900 billion economic cornerstone of our economy in a time when jobs are scarce.
* Eight-two percent of Americans still pay their bills by mail.
* Like other American businesses, the Internet has revolutionized customer service for the Postal Service with usps.com providing 80 percent of the services you get at a post office. In 2008, stamp and retail sales at the Postal Store totaled more than $442 million.
* The Postal Service has the largest fleet of alternative fuel vehicles in the nation: 43,000 in all.
* According to the Environmental Protection Agency, advertising mail accounts for less than 2.4 percent of municipal waste in landfills.
* Postal Service Priority and Express packaging is free, eco-friendly and recyclable.
* Thanks to the Postal Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector General, delivery of your mail is secure.
* Less than 4 percent of identity theft happens through the mail; the remainder comes from illegal computer access of personal information.
* Without the Postal Service providing affordable, universal, surcharge-free prices, private shipping rates would likely skyrocket.
* Is e-mail cheaper than a 44-cent stamp? Consider the cost of the computer, the Internet service provider fee, the power bill and the ongoing equipment upgrades.
* About one-third of our population does not have Internet access.
* Ideas to charge per e-mail already have been considered by Internet service providers. Without a postal alternative, service providers could charge and raise the cost for each e-mail at will.
* Other forms of communication (TV and the Internet) have a considerable negative environmental impact, sending outmoded models to landfills by the millions. According to the National Safety Council, only 11 percent of computers get recycled, and small-time consumers alone add 10 million computers to landfills each year.
From the telegraph to the Internet, new technology has historically caused many predictions of the end of the Postal Service. But because the Postal Service is able to adapt and change to ensure secure, affordable, universal delivery, it has withstood similar threats to serve our country for almost 250 years.
David Becker II is the Spartanburg postmaster.
Lands’ End becomes first catalogue client of Royal Mail’s Sustainable Mail service
by Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct 27-May-09, 09:00
LONDON – Upmarket clothes catalogue Lands’ End has been signed up as the first mail order client of Royal Mail’s green DM postal service, Sustainable Mail.
The service, launched in April, offers a lower price tariff for mail that meets environmental criteria in line with the new DM green standard, PAS 20:20. Black Horse Personal Finance and Standard Life are already using Sustainable Mail.
Lands’ End, which sells high quality casual clothing and footwear by mail order and online, has just posted its first catalogues using the Sustainable Mail service.
Direct mail posted through Sustainable Mail is priced up to 4.7 per cent lower than standard Mailsort prices and is available to mail users that meet criteria based on three environmental criteria: improved sustainability, minimised waste and increased recyclability.
Tim Curtis, Lands’ End managing director, said Sustainable Mail would help the mail order firm “ensure every aspect of our catalogue distribution programme is sustainable”.
“We were already doing what we thought was right for the environment, such as delivering our catalogues without polywrap, but Sustainable Mail highlighted other ways we could be more environmentally friendly, and rewards us for doing them. It’s a great service and we’re delighted to give it our seal of approval.”
USPS: Ve Haf Vays of Making You Use Our Barcode
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 From the Dead Tree Edition
The Postal Service’s Intelligent Mail program might fail because it is not sufficiently attractive to mailers, the Government Accounting Office warned today.
Not to worry, the Postal Service responded. If the tiny Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) discounts scheduled for later this year are not enough to entice mailers, it said, two years from now the huge penalties for not using IMbs will force mailers to change their ways. Starting in May 2011, mail without IMbs will be ineligible for automation discounts, which typically are at least several cents per mail piece.
“Some mailers have said they find the pricing incentives insufficient to recover their investment in the program,” said the GAO report. “For example, some large mailers said they invested millions of dollars to update and purchase hardware and software, while some smaller mailers expected to invest tens of thousands of dollars.”
Other highlights of the report and the Postal Service’s response:
The Intelligent Mail program “lacks a comprehensive strategy” that includes a detailed plan or “goals and measures of success”, the GAO said. The Postal Service agreed to beef up its planning but said the approach recommended by the GAO would drag out implementation too long.
“USPS and mailers may not be ready for implementation given USPS’s short-time period in which to simultaneously design, develop, test, and implement the Intelligent Mail program,” the report said. Amen to that!
An odd statement from the Postal Service: “Despite an extremely compressed schedule, the successful implementation of the Operating System environment on May 11 and the Test Environment for Mailers on May 18 demonstrates how well this effort works.” May 11 and 18 haven’t occurred yet, and mailers are reporting that the Postal Service is not ready for those key dates. See “Another Delay for Intelligent Mail?”
USPS “lacks information on costs and savings attributable to the Intelligent Mail program,” the GAO said. USPS responded that the program will give it valuable information enabling it to become more efficient but that “there is no sound financial method to specifically attribute these reductions to Intelligent Mail.”
“According to USPS, Intelligent Mail is the most complex project it has undertaken,” the GAO report said.
Finnish postal union to go ahead with stoppage
So check this out, at least I never recall the USPS stopping delivery on mail. See it can always get worse!
The Finnish Post and Logistics Workers´ Union (Pau) is to stage a six-hour stoppage on Wednesday, leading to delays in postal services for the rest of the week.
The union maintains that there is ambivalence about whether permanent unemployment pension could be treated as a legitimate outcome in cooperation procedure talks in government-owned companies like Itella, formerly known as Finland Post.
Jyri Häkämies (cons), the minister in charge of ownership policy, had previously approved permanent unemployment pension as a legitimate option.
Itella said last week it wanted to cut some 390 jobs.
Survey: CMOs Not Happy With Digital
April 18, 2009
By Todd Wasserman
CMOs see digital as the medium of choice in this economy, but aren’t getting what they want out of it, according to a new survey from Heidrick & Struggles.
In December, the Atlanta recruiting firm polled 111 senior marketing executives at firms with $1 billion or more in annual revenues about their digital strategies. The impetus, said Lynne Seid, partner in the firm’s global consumer practice, were comments from H&S clients expressing frustration over the fact that so much information exists online about consumers—like their search and social media behavior—and yet marketers felt they were accessing it poorly.
Information on existing customers is especially valuable since in the current down economy, many are focusing on retaining such customers, and cross-selling and up-selling to them, in addition to trying to win over new customers.
Respondents to the survey found their current ability to access ROI and metrics on their digital marketing lacking and rated their companies behind the curve. Many said they would have to look outside the company for help, whether that means hiring new employees or relying on ad agencies—though the marketers said they weren’t happy with their current agencies either.
Time after time in the survey, marketers expressed an awareness of digital’s potential along with a recognition that they weren’t close to tapping it.
For instance, one of the selling points of digital media is its ability to let marketers respond quickly to new opportunities, but only 16 percent of respondents rated themselves “very satisfied†with their ability to do so. Fifty-one percent said they were “somewhat satisfied.â€
On a more granular level, the respondents rated marketing ROI, Web behavioral analyses and CRM as the most important parts of their digital marketing mix. Not many marketers thought that they were good at those functions at this point. Only 18 percent said they were “very satisfied†with their ROI analysis, only 13 percent said the same of their CRM program and 19 percent were happy with their search engine optimization.
There was also some debate over who has responsibility for analytics like Web traffic and usage reports. Most marketing departments are currently handling those functions, but they would like to fob it off on IT. Though search marketing also scored high, pulling up the rear on that list were blogs, social networking tools and mobile advertising.
On the bright side, most respondents thought they had Webinars down pat and they were fairly confident in their ability to execute online surveys and contests. On the other hand, most rated their ability to pull off mobile ads and video ads fairly low.
For what ever reason, marketers think their companies are behind the curve on digital marketing, but they don’t see themselves that way. “That’s called ‘irony,’†Seid said. Their agency partners are another story. Fifty-five percent disagree with the statement: “We trust our ad agency partner to provide us with the digital marketing expertise that we need.â€
Seid said the big takeaway from the survey is that there’s still enormous room for improvement for most companies’ digital marketing strategies.
“What I’m hearing anecdotally is there are now sometimes half a dozen digital agencies and suppliers specializing in social media and search,†Seid said. “We don’t have anyone managing, integrating and demanding best practices in those areas.†Seid envisions a “digital CMO†taking responsibility for managing those disciplines. Said Seid: “That will be the CMO of the future.â€
Postal worker arrested on mail theft charges
I think it is pretty impressive they caught this guy, how often do you think this happens and no one gets caught, especially in bigger cities.
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Parish (WSYR-TV) – Federal prosecutors have arrested and charged an Oswego County postal employee following a complaint from a customer, who said greeting cards mailed never arrived. Christa Koagel, 28, of Parish, is charged by complaint with knowingly, intentionally, and willfully stealing items of the U.S. mail. The investigation began in December 2008, the Inspector General for the United States Postal Service received a complaint from a postal customer regarding several greeting cards containing U.S. currency that the customer mailed, but were never delivered to the intended recipient. If convicted of the Mail Theft charge, Koagel faces a term of imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000. |
Pompous self-righteous dork
Ok Ok, my feelings are expressed in the title of this blog, I just don’t get it, and maybe I’m the idiot dork. What would the world be like without mail? Do you think you won’t get bills or other bad news? Do you know how many industries are supported by direct mail, what are you thinking? And do you think that little of savvy direct marketers that they think they can just use, as you call it “spam” or email instead of direct mail? If it were that easy and effective don’t you think this would have been done long ago? Is this really the bright spot of the economic downturn, less junk mail, is it really that bothersome? All questions i would love to know the answers for.
 You tell me, check out the video:
I wonder who makes the censorship decisions???
Maybe they should have checked prior to attempting to mail…April 7, 2009 —
DIRECTOR Adam Rifkin (“Detroit Rock City”) is no smut peddler, but the US Postal Service is refusing to mail promotional postcards for his new movie, “Look,” which show a man in his boxers entwined by a woman’s legs. They say its obscene, even though there’s no nudity. “We’re all in shock,” Rifkin told us. “Not only is it censorship, but with the post office in such financial straits, it’s ridiculous they won’t mail it.”
It ain’t easy!!!
YONKERS – Police have charged a Yonkers woman with attacking a 50-year-old male postal worker as he delivered mail on Wednesday morning.
The woman, identified by Yonkers City Police as Rosemarie Santos, 20, approached the mailman and claimed that her monthly benefit check was in another person’s mailbox. When the postal worker did not open the other mailbox, she became enraged and punched and scratched the man. She also stole his Bluetooth headset and refused to return it.
Police arrested Santos and charged her with second-degree robbery. The letter carrier was treated and released at a local hospital for a laceration to his left hand.
Postal Service Continues Aggressive Steps to Cut Costs
Press release from the USPS:
WASHINGTON — With no signs of economic recovery in sight, the U.S. Postal Service is taking bold actions in response to its ongoing financial crisis. Today the Postal Service announced it would be closing six of its 80 district offices, eliminating positions across the country and offering another early retirement opportunity. These actions are expected to save the Postal Service more than $100 million annually.
Old Post Office 79540 (Old Glory, Texas)
Closing administrative offices, eliminating positions, offering early retirements
The six offices closing — located in Lake Mary, FL; North Reading, MA; Manchester, NH; Edison, NJ; Erie, PA, and Spokane, WA — house only administrative functions and will not adversely affect customer service, mail delivery, Post Office operations or ZIP codes. The functions of these six offices will be assumed by 10 district offices within close proximity.
Additionally, administrative staff positions at the district level nationwide are being reduced by 15 percent. More than 1,400 mail processing supervisor and management positions at nearly 400 facilities around the country also are being eliminated and nearly 150,000 employees nationwide are being given the opportunity to take an early retirement.
In the past year the Postal Service has taken very aggressive cost-cutting actions, including:
- Cutting 50 million workhours;
- Halting construction of new postal facilities;
- Negotiating an agreement with the National Association of Letter Carriers that adjusts letter carrier routes to reflect diminished volume;
- Freezing salaries of all Postal Service officers and executives;
- Instituting a nationwide hiring freeze;
- Reducing authorized staffing levels at postal headquarters and area offices by at least 15 percent;
- Selling unused and under-utilized postal facilities;
- Adjusting Post Office hours to better reflect customer use; and,
- Consolidating mail processing operations.
The Postal Service is streamlining operations and improving efficiencies across the board in order to protect its ability to provide affordable, universal mail service. By modifying networks, consolidating functions and restructuring administrative and processing operations, the Postal Service is adapting to meet the evolving needs, demands and activities of its customers.
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