Author: Archive

Postal service trust in United States

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

For the third year in a row, Americans have rated the Postal Service as the number one government agency they trust to protect their privacy.

Overall the Postal Service earned a rating of 83 percent in the 2007 Privacy Trust Study of the United States Government, conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC. The average trust score among the 60 agencies surveyed was 47 percent.

The Privacy Trust Study found that Americans remain concerned over a “loss of civil liberties and privacy rights,” “surveillance into personal life,” and “monitoring e-mail and Web activities.” While many federal agencies saw their ratings drop, the Postal Service was one of the few to increase both its customer satisfaction and trust scores.

All of us at the Post Office thank you for your confidence. We appreciate your business and your trust, and look forward to serving your mailing needs.

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Swiss Post opens its PostLab at EPFL

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

Swiss Post has strengthened its partnership with the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL).
By opening its incubator (PostLab) on the EPFL campus, it is clearly signalling its intention to be one of Switzerland’s innovation pioneers. Alongside high-tech companies, it will work in close collaboration with the school, its researchers and its students.

Using the incubator concept, PostLab will offer financing to develop projects that have strong potential and to help put them to a specific use. This concept helps reduce the time between the generation of an idea and its realization. This means greater efficiency, faster development of services and increased motivation for all partners who can witness the result of their contribution.

Led by Lorenz Lehmann of Swiss Post, PostLab is not only aimed at EPFL researchers, but also at students with good ideas as well as collaborators from other academic institutions.

Many research topics developed at EPFL represent solid prospects for Swiss Post’s business development. The security of electronic financial transactions is one area that is constantly evolving. Security of this kind will permit the development of new services in areas such as cellular telephony. The goal is to give users freedom and convenience, not to impede their activity. Another topic area is transportation logistics, which have to incorporate many parameters these days to achieve speed, traceability, cost savings and environmental responsibility, while enabling the short-term planning of transportation resources. This challenge calls for research in the fields of management, logistics, mathematics, electronics and many other leading disciplines. Advances in artificial intelligence also constitute a particularly fertile source of innovation.

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Deutsche Post rivals threaten to sue govt over minimum wages

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net AG postal services rivals said they are considering suing the government for damages arising from a directive imposing minimum wages for all letter carriers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said.

The paper said Axel Guenther, a lawyer for the the Courier, Express and Mail Services Industry Association (BdKEP), has notified German Labour Minister Olaf Scholz about the plans.

BdKEP demanded that Scholz reverse the directive and threatened to sue should this not happen.

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Eesti Post mulls five-day delivery

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

A debate has arisen whether Eesti Post, the state-owned postal company, should switch to a five-day delivery system beginning next month as a drastic cost-cutting measure. The company announced on March 4 in April it would deliver mail five days per week but continue delivering periodicals six days. Saturday mail service, Eesti Post, will be discontinued.

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There should be an investigation into the legality of the TNT

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

UNI’s German affiliate, Ver.di, has called for a proper investigation into the set up of the “ghost” union in TNT Germany, GNBZ. There are real doubts as to the validity of this union which TNT now claims to have a collective agreement with and which is being used in recent court cases as a reason to refuse to pay the minimum wage for postal services as determined by the German Government.

The Public Prosecutors office is now investigating whether this union, which is neither a registered trade union or society, has a proper legal basis. It appears that its expenses are financed by others and not by the “members” and that indeed there is real concern that this union has real members and a democratically elected executive body. Further investigations are now under way.

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USPS offer competitive prices for Express Mail & Priority Mail

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

For the first time ever, the U.S. Postal Service is offering volume related or other price incentives for Express Mail, Priority Mail and other shipping services, effective May 12. These incentives are now possible as a result from a change in federal law*, enabling the Postal Service to better compete in the shipping market.

Postal Service shipping products are currently priced by a “one price fits all” approach — customers pay the same price per piece regardless of the number of packages sent or the method of payment. Beginning May 12, customers will be able to take advantage of commercial volume pricing, minimum volume rebates, online price breaks and other pricing incentives. For example:

– Express Mail, premium overnight delivery, is switching to an industry standard, zone-based pricing system, resulting in lower prices for closer destinations. Customers will enjoy a 3 percent price reduction by purchasing Express Mail online or through corporate accounts. Up to an additional 7 percent price reduction is available for those who meet quarterly volume minimums.
– Priority Mail, expedited delivery at economical prices, will be available at an average 3.5 percent savings to customers who use electronic postage or meet other requirements.
– Parcel Select, the Postal Service “last mile” advantage of delivery to every door, will feature pricing and volume incentives for large- and medium-sized shippers.
Parcel Return Service, an easy and convenient way for customers to return items to businesses, will move entirely to a weight-based pricing system, resulting in significant price reductions for lighter packages.

(*) The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.

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Evaluation of Q-Post project to be conducted

Posted by | Mar 11, 2008 | |

An evaluation of the ongoing Q-Post project of connecting the branch offices to the postal corporation’s IT network would be carried out soon.

This was decided at a meeting between Q-Post chairman Ali Mohamed al-Ali and chairman of international relations of Slovenian Post Jan Koehler at General Post Office yesterday. Koehler is the Universal Postal Union (UPU) official overseeing the improvement of the country’s ongoing postal projects.

Announcing the plans, Q-Post chairman said the corporation would utilise fully the share it had received from the UPU’s terminal use fund for improving the services of the corporation.

The UPU share of 7 pct for postal improvement would be allotted to all postal corporations. As per a UPU agreement, the money that the UPU allots for postal projects comes from the advanced industrialised countries. The fund is provided to finance the administering of projects until 2012. Each country has a national co-ordinator to oversee the ongoing projects.

For the improvement of services Jan Koehler suggested the training of postal staff. He said the movement of staff to other sectors in search of better opportunities would jeopardise the implementing of postal projects.

Al-Ali briefed the Slovenian official of the steps the Q-Post had undertaken to improve the postal services in Qatar. The electronic-linked developments at the corporation were also discussed.

The Slovenian official also held talks with Q-Post IT manager George Scott Campbell.

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Closure threat on 13 post offices (UK)

Posted by | Mar 11, 2008 | |

Thirteen post offices in mid Wales are the latest to be earmarked for possible closure as part of Post Office’s UK-wide review.

The changes are needed to make the network viable, says Post Office Ltd.

The proposals also include establishing 24 outreach service points to replace some branches.

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats criticised the plans which could see branches in Montgomeryshire, Ceredigion and Brecon and Radnorshire areas close.

The announcement follows the decision to close 29 branches in Cardiff, Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan and valleys.

A decision on 25 threatened branches across the Newport and Gwent Valleys has yet to be made.

The proposals for mid Wales will leave 153 post offices – five branches in towns and 148 in rural areas.

The region currently has 166 post offices.

The company says more than 98.8pct of the region’s 200,000 population will either see no change or will remain within one mile, by road, of an alternative branch.

The new outreach service points will provide post office services for a designated number of hours per week in that particular area and could be located within a mobile van, a host shop or village hall.

In very small communities, a home service could be provided whereby a sub postmaster delivers a reduced range of products and services which can be ordered over the telephone.

Under the plans, 89.3pct of the area’s population will retain their existing post office branch, said Post Office Ltd.

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