move update
Spain’s Banco Santander Makes a U.S. Deposit
This is a great article about the power of data modeling and analytics and the amazing effect it can have on a business, from Business week, April 15th.
With its Sovereign Bancorp purchase, Santander takes its strong acquisitions record to the American market
Madrid – Spain’s Banco Santander has every right to be smug. While rivals were jumping into investment banking and complex derivatives, Santander stuck largely to its plain-vanilla retail operations in Europe and Latin America. That extra-safe strategy helped Santander rack up $11.7 billion in profits last year even as its peers were hemorrhaging cash.
One place Santander has largely avoided is the U.S., but that’s about to change. The bank in October paid $1.9 billion for the 75% of Reading (Pa.)-based Sovereign Bancorp (SOV) that it didn’t own already. Emilio BotÃn, Santander’s 74-year-old chairman, plans to use Sovereign’s 747 branches and 2 million customers in the Northeast to muscle his way into U.S. retail banking. That will involve spending some $400 million by 2012 to upgrade back-office technology, retrain staff in marketing techniques, and consolidate a far-flung management team. The deal will make the U.S. Santander’s No. 3 deposit base, behind Britain and Spain.
While the expansion may be a gamble in these tough economic times, Santander has a strong track record in acquisitions. In Spain, Britain, and Latin America, the bank has followed a similar strategy: Buy a small stake in a local player to get to know a market, then jump on bigger game when they come up for sale. In the past two years, Santander has spent some $31 billion on nine deals across three continents. “BotÃn always has been a hunter,” says Robert Tornabell, former dean of ESADE Business School in Madrid.
But cracks are appearing just as BotÃn embarks on this U.S. adventure. In 2008 the bank’s nonperforming loans doubled, to $8.9 billion—2% of Santander’s portfolio—and they’re expected to double again this year as Spain, Britain, and Brazil hit the skids. A $3.1 billion loss related to Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme also has tarnished the bank’s credibility. “Even Santander’s conservative retail banking model won’t do well in the current climate,” says José Manuel Campa, a finance professor at IESE Business School in Madrid.
Not so, says Santander Chief Financial Officer José Antonio Alvarez. He says bad-loan provisions—mandated by Spain’s central bank—will ensure that Santander can weather the crisis. He also notes that Santander has a healthier loan book than most of its rivals. “We only invest in markets that we understand well,” Alvarez says.
And BotÃn knows how to squeeze every last dollar, euro, and pound from customers. Branch managers use in-house technology, dubbed Parthenon, that provides constant updates on clients. The system analyzes accounts and suggests products, such as credit cards or home equity loans, that customers are likely to want. And it flags clients who are falling behind so the branch can work out a payment plan. “We know who pays and doesn’t pay, and the exact services to sell,” Esther Sanchez, a manager with Santander unit Banesto in Madrid, says as she thumbs through client files.
GROWING PAINS
Santander plans to replicate the strategy at Sovereign. Last year productivity at 30 branches around Philadelphia jumped by 50% when managers started using Santander’s selling techniques. That pilot program has been expanded across all Sovereign branches, a move Santander expects could net the bank $215 million in savings over the next three years.
Still, Sovereign carries some risks. Santander already has written down $2 billion of Sovereign’s questionable assets. And the Spaniards want to get rid of a further $10 billion in loans by yearend. Despite those growing pains and its troubles back home, Santander remains confident about the U.S. “It’s not about luck,” says Juan RodrÃguez Inciarte, the bank’s strategy chief. “We make decisions at the right time.”
Young Professionals are Nutty for Nutter!
By: Roseanne Cappacio
I had the opportunity last week to attend a networking event as part of the Young Professionals Network (YPN), sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, at St. Joseph’s University. It was a great opportunity to get to know my fellow peers and also get a more in-depth look at the state of the city from the Mayor himself.
Mayor Nutter spoke to a room of over 150 young professionals as well as addressing any questions we brought to the table. He explained in more detail his plans to raise the property tax for the next two years: up 19% from this year’s rate in 2010 and then just 14% in 2011 from the 2009 rate. Then it should return to the 2009 rate in 2012. He assured us that this has been written as part of the legislature that the 2009 rate will return! Only time will tell. He did also mention that if you are a first time home buyer and buy new construction you have a 10 year tax exemption and the rate increases will not affect you! He encouraged first time home buyers to buy away!
He answered an array of questions from, “What is your opinion on how the Parking Wars TV show depicts the city of Philadelphia?†to “Why should we send our children to Philadelphia Public Schools?†He even took suggestions from the group on how we can keep our young professionals living and working in the city most of us call home.
The Mayor was very personable and even stuck around afterward to speak with anyone who had additional questions for him. I found the event very informative and also realized that we as young professionals do have a voice and the Mayor wants to hear it! So if you have an issue you feel strongly about or just want to express your opinions on a topic feel free to write the Mayor or you can even post your comments here for discussion.
It’s important for all of us to be heard so don’t be afraid to speak up as you never who might be listening!
Gangs running standover drugs-in-mail racket
I knew mail service is much tougher in other countries, but this is ridiculous…
From perth now
April 20, 2009 09:15am
ROMANIAN crime gangs are forcing innocent Australian residents to receive illegal drugs through the mail.
Many of those pressured into taking delivery of heroin, cocaine and amphetamine parcels from overseas are fellow Romanians.
Gang members rely on their legendary reputation for extreme violence as insurance against victims dobbing them in.
They prey on people with no criminal record or history and tell them parcels will be posted to their addresses.
The victims are ordered not to open the parcels and are told to whom they must hand them.
Some of those who receive the drug parcels are paid a small amount for doing so, but most are forced to do it for nothing.
The Australian Crime Commission’s 2009 report into the $10 billion-a-year organised crime market reveals “scatter importing” through the postal system is a common method of smuggling heroin and cocaine into Australia.
A senior underworld figure, and a former Australian Federal Police agent who specialises in Romanian crime gangs, separately told The Daily Telegraph about the Romanian-run mail racket.
“Millions of dollars worth of drugs – mainly heroin and cocaine but increasingly the more popular amphetamine-based pills – have been imported to Australia in this way and continue to be,” the underworld source said.
The former AFP agent – who is still involved in investigating Romanian gangs as a private investigator for insurance companies – said the parcel racket was centred on Victoria.
“They’re able to get away with it largely undetected because they put the fear of God into the people who receive the drug parcels,” the former agent said.
“Romanian gangsters have little or no respect for human life.
“They will burn your house down, bash you or kill you if you oppose or expose them.”
Waterloo mailman accused of not delivering bulk business mail, political flyers
A letter carrier who allegedly told inspectors that he didn’t like to deliver bulk business mail and fliers from politicians faces a federal charge that he ditched mail since 2000.
Glen J. Helmer of Waterloo, Seneca County, a rural carrier associate for the U.S. Postal Service, was arrested Thursday on a charge of stealing and embezzling mail on his route outside Seneca Falls. Helmer allegedly told a special agent for the Postal Service that he took business mail home and stuffed it into his recycling bin up to 120 times from 2000 to 2008.
Helmer, who used his own car on his route, said he was “trying to save money on gas and brakes.”
When the inspector searched Helmer’s car and found 116 undelivered political fliers from state Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Helmer allegedly said: “I don’t like politicians.”
Amazing isn’t it? What the heck are these people thinking!!!
Police: Postal worker threw away mail because it was printed on inferior paper
The discerning postal employee…
A former postal worker in upstate New York has been arrested for tossing mail.
Glen Helmer was arrested Thursday morning and charged with destroying mail he was supposed to be delivering.
According to the criminal complaint Helmer admitted to throwing away bulk mail circulars.
Investigators caught Helmer in the act when they followed him on his route last summer.
It is estimated that Helmer tossed business mail between 100 and 120 times during the last eight years.
On the criminal complaint, Helmer said he didn’t like the flyers because they were printed on inferior quality paper.
Helmer’s next court appearance is set for June.
Environmental Impact of Direct Mail
Below I have attached a link to an interesting study that was done on the environmental impact of direct mail. It is actually amazing how little impact direct mail has on the environment, especially when compared to other sources of pollutants, like cars.
Another fallacy this study addresses is that all forests will be lost to make paper for direct mailings. Let’s think about this seriously, manufacturing paper and paper products is a huge industry. Do you really think that paper manufacturers want to put themselves out of business by destroying the very source of their product? Let’s get real. Tremendous effort is put into renewing their raw materials and significant dollars are spent on R&D to develope new products that can be manufactured cleaner than recycled paper products.
Take a look, it is quite interesting.
Digital services may foreshadow snail mail’s death
A worker at Earth Class Mail’s facility in Beaverton, Ore., scans a client’s snail mail into digital form to be read online.
The post office doesn’t deliver mail to Steven Stark’s Santa Maria, Calif., home anymore.
It’s not that Stark, the 36-year-old owner of an Internet company, is unpopular. He just decided that he’d rather deal with all of his correspondence online.
Millions of Americans receive online versions of their bills and bank statements. But Stark is one of tens of thousands who have decided they don’t need any physical mail, be it love letters or advertising come-ons.
Instead of plodding down to the mailbox, they open their Web browsers. Rather than stuff file cabinets with paper, they keep their mail online.
Analysts say it’s too soon to tell whether digital mail is the next big thing, and skeptics, including the U.S. Postal Service, abound. Still, as consumers become more tied to the digital world, Web-based snail mail services are expanding.
Beginning April 27, Swiss Post, Switzerland’s national postal operator, will use the technology developed by Earth Class Mail of Seattle, the same company Stark uses, to deliver regular mail online in six European countries.
“There is a real desire for such a service,†said Benoit Stroelin, head of finance at Swiss Post Solutions.
Scanning correspondence and putting it online is the “middle step†in a march toward the future of all-digital delivery, Stroelin said. Early adopters such as Stark give a glimpse into how that might look.
Earth Class Mail assigned him a post office box in Los Angeles. For $11.95 a month, the company opens all of his mail – letters, bills, catalogs and all – then scans and uploads it to the Web so he can read his correspondence online.
Stark doesn’t have to give the post office his new address every time he moves. He can go on vacation and not miss any mail. By checking a box on his computer screen, Stark can tell the company to shred, recycle or forward the mail to him. He can have the company send packages to his house or pick them up at the nearest Earth Class Mail Center.
“It’s just more convenient,†he said.
Convenience has its cost. The $11.95 fee includes 50 pages scanned a month and unlimited recycling and shredding. Each extra page scanned costs 25 cents. Like a cell phone plan, customers can pay more to have higher limits.
Members are assigned either a post office box or a generic mailing address in Beaverton, Ore., where Earth Class Mail has a sorting facility. Customers who want a premium address, even a false one, can pay extra. Manhattan costs $29.95, and West Hollywood or San Francisco cost $23.95.
For the average American, digital mail won’t take over any time soon.
Security is obviously a big concern. Worries about mail fraud and identity theft may slow the shift. Although having someone else open your mail reduces the chances you’ll get anthrax poisoning, it also “opens up another way that the customers’ information can be compromised,†said Stan Stahl, president of information security firm Citadel Information Group.
Earth Class Mail, which has 115 employees, tries to limit risk. Employees need key cards to enter the mail rooms. They wear pocketless jumpsuits to make it tougher for them to remove correspondence, and are monitored by security cameras as they sort and scan the mail.
But there are outside risks, Stahl said. Computer hackers could break into the database of scanned mail if the network isn’t secure enough, he said, and if mail becomes completely digital, the number of viruses passed by that medium probably will increase.
While picking up mail at a Los Angeles post office branch recently, Gemmandy Priutsky, a federal housing official, said he’d never want his mail delivered online. His identity was stolen after someone pilfered mail from his home last year, so now he visits his post office box six days a week.
“There are too many fraudulent activities online,†he said.
Most older people are more comfortable using snail mail to pay their bills and send goods, and many younger people skip mail entirely and just use the Internet, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis for Interpret, a media and technology research firm.
“It will probably take a good deal of this generation to die off before we actually make that transition,†Gartenberg said.
The U.S. Postal Service has experimented over the last decade with offering digital versions of some of its core services, but “people weren’t comfortable,†agency spokeswoman Susan Brennan said. Many services were discontinued by 2003, although the post office still offers a Web service that allows users to design cards, which it will print out and send.
“First-class mail is the most secure way to communicate in this country,†Brennan said.
Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times
Did you know you could ship animals through the mail???
The Postal Service proposes to revise the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) by changing the refund guarantees for Express Mail shipments of live animals delivered within 3 days of the date of mailing. In some instances, the Postal Service must reroute Express Mail shipments of live animals to alternative flights or routes in order to protect the well-being of the live animals. This is particularly necessary if other shipments on the same flight contain dry ice or solid carbon dioxide, which will evaporate en route and may displace oxygen. If live animals were shipped in the same cargo hold, the carbon dioxide could cause asphyxiation. The use of alternative flights and rerouting to protect the well-being of the live animals can delay shipments. Therefore, even though the live animals arrive as promptly as possible and in good health, these shipments may not meet normal Express Mail service guarantees. In those instances, some mailers then apply for full postage refunds.
Currently, postage refunds for Express Mail shipments of live animals are granted based on the next day or second day delivery guarantee provided at the time of mailing. This current postage refund policy does not account for the flight changes that may occur to protect the well-being of the animals. Therefore, the Postal Service is proposing that Express Mail shipments containing live animals be exempt from the next day or second day delivery guarantee and that the delivery commitment for Express Mail of live animals be extended to within 3 days of the date of mailing. Postage refund requests for Express Mail shipments of live animals delivered after 3 days of the date mailing would still be granted.
Postal carrier saves life
Staff writerÂ
Carriers for the Coeur d’Alene post office are building an impressive reputation.
SHAWN GUST/Press Deb Allred, mail carrier for the United States Postal Service, delivers mail Wednesday in a downtown Coeur d'Alene neighborhood during her shift.
This week, another postal carrier saved the life of an elderly person who had fallen in her home and been unable to get up for days.
“It’s awesome — we have a very good group of people here, they’re very concerned about what goes on in the community,” said Postmaster Dave Hoover.
Deb Allred, 49, got a bad feeling during her Tuesday route when she saw two newspapers still crammed in the mail slot of 79-year-old Yvonne McDonald.
“I know Mrs. McDonald, she picks up her mail every day,” she said.
Allred found the door open and entered. She saw the TV was on, but when she called McDonald’s name, she only heard the woman’s four dogs barking boisterously from a room in the back of the house.
Worried she could risk a dog bite if she searched the home, she returned to her truck and continued to deliver mail.
But she couldn’t shake the image of all that stacked-up mail.
“I just knew something was wrong — we know she has health problems, we know she had problems getting around,” she said.
Mustering the nerve to take a chance with the canines, she returned to search McDonald’s home. She found the woman on her bathroom floor, where she had been laying immobilized since Sunday.
“What was so touching to me was that when I talked to her, the first thing she said wasn’t ‘help me,’ it was, ‘I need someone to take care of my dogs,’” Allred said.
Allred called 911, and an ambulance collected the dehydrated and disoriented woman.
A neighbor saw the ambulance and volunteered to take care of the dogs until McDonald returned.
Hoover said he has already nominated Allred for a Postmaster General Award.
“She’s an exceptionally good carrier,” he said of Allred, who has worked for the Postal Service since 1981. “She’s highly relied upon as a city carrier and here’s a prime example of her level of concern for her customers.”
The situation strongly reminded him of Isaac Fish, the 21-year-old postal carrier who found an elderly woman in the same circumstances in January.
Hoover didn’t know statistics of how often postal workers discover fallen elderly people in their homes.
“I know it seems Coeur d’Alene has had its fair share,” he said.
Heather Lessler, spokeswoman for Legends Park Assisted Living, suggested that elderly people get a Lifeline medical alert service for their homes.
Lifeline provides a button that elderly people can wear around their arms or necks that automatically calls the paramedics when they push it.
“I know quite a few people who do use it,” Lessler said.
Allred, who lives in Post Falls, said it gives her great comfort to know McDonald is all right.
“I was sitting at home last night thinking that if I hadn’t trusted my instincts and followed through, Mrs. McDonald would still be laying there on the bathroom floor,” she said. “The way I feel is if everybody could help one other person, it would make this world so much better.”
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:
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