Author: Archive

Swiss Post: Ultra-modern technology on a conventional stamp

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

Swiss Post is issuing the world’s first stamp with an integrated BeeTagg, combining a conventional stamp with ultra-modern technology. Swiss Post’s partner in this first tagging venture is Schweiz Tourismus, which is using the stamp and integrated BeeTagg as part of its winter advertising campaign. The mobile tagging solutions have been developed by Swiss Post subsidiary yellowworld AG.

Some time ago, a new application was developed for the mobile phone, increasing its versatility even further. The new technology is called mobile tagging and is available regardless of which service provider the user has chosen. It enables the user to establish a connection to a predefined and mobile-friendly web page via their mobile phone. The BeeTagg is a two-dimensional code that looks like a honeycomb and functions in a similar way to a bar code. The user simply installs the free BeeTagg reader, then scans the tag incorporated into the Swiss Post stamp with the camera on their mobile phone. The reader recognizes the tag and connects the phone to a predefined web page.

Similar codes have long been used in Japan, but what distinguishes the BeeTagg from these is the fact that it was developed and optimized specifically for mobile tagging. The BeeTagg does not look like a conventional technical barcode. It can incorporate logos, pictures and text. As even tiny BeeTaggs can still be read, they are particularly suitable for products with densely packed information, for example stamps, newspapers or packaging.

Mobile tagging has enormous potential and opens up new methods of marketing and communication. By incorporating BeeTaggs into adverts or billboards, companies can enter into contact with potential customers and direct them to their websites.

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PRC releases final ratemaking regulations

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has released its final ratemaking regulations nearly eight months ahead of the deadline set by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act passed in December 2006.

These rules relate to rate adjustments for market dominant products of the US Postal Service, competitive products and the establishment of a Mail Classification Schedule, which categorizes products as either market dominant or competitive.

One of the biggest impacts the new rules will have on postal legislation is the Consumer Price Index cap it places on future rate increases. Next spring is the last time that the USPS can file a rate increase under the old law with no price cap; however, many are hoping to avoid such an increase, including PRC chairman Dan G. Blair.

“[The PRC and the USPS] have a full agenda before us as we implement the requirements of the PAEA,” Blair said in a statement. “Having the new ratemaking system in place sooner, rather than later, allows us to focus on the tasks ahead and hopefully avoid an old cost-of-service rate case.”

Blair also praised the public input on the rulemaking process. The PRC issued two Advance Notices of Rulemaking, held three field hearings, and invited comments and reply comments on the proposed regulations.

Changes made to proposed rules, issued on August 15, came as a result of reply comments and included reaffirming the use of the rate cap for market dominant products; adopting a transition rule for the calculation of rate cap in the event of a transitional rate filing; reaffirming that each negotiated service agreement (NSA) is a separate product, but that functionally equivalent NSAs may, with supporting evidence, be grouped as one product; and adopting initial lists of market dominant and competitive products.

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Final Three Post Offices in San Diego County Reopen This Week

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

Mail delivery will resume this week at the final three Post Offices that were relocated to safe areas during the wildfires in San Diego County.

Mail delivery at the Dulzura Post Office will resume today. Retail service will open once sufficient power is restored to the building.

Post Offices in Tecate and Palomar Mountain will reopen as early as tomorrow, Nov. 1. Dulzura and Tecate residents have been picking up their mail at the El Cajon Post Office since last week. Palomar Mountain residents were picking up their mail at Santa Ysabel.

A generator will be hooked up today at the Palomar Mountain Post Office so that office can reopen. Power lines are still down in the area.

Postmasters encourage residents to check the status of their local Post Office before traveling to El Cajon or Santa Ysabel to pick-up their mail. “We want to save them a trip, if possible,” said Tecate postmaster Sandra Glad.”

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TNT Post has become the preferred postal provider for councils in the North West

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

TNT Post’s North team has been appointed as the preferred postal provider by the North West Centre of Excellence, the regional, procurement efficiency and improvement partner to councils in the North West.

The contract is worth up to GBP 3.5 million and will save taxpayers an anticipated GBP 1 million. This appointment covers 17 councils in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside and could see TNT Post handling over 18 million items of mail each year. The contract award is a result of a successful competitive tender process, which included the submission of successful case histories from other public sector organisations in and around the region.

The councils, during the one year contract, will have access to TNT Post’s ‘PremierSort Flex’ and ‘AllSort’ services, which offer valuable benefits such as:

The ability to handle 100 per cent of mail, including unsorted and non machine readable
– Value for money
– Flexible pick up times
– Collaborative approach to doing business
– Locally skilled account management teams with a local focus
– Fast and reliable day definite service
– Innovative solutions to enable on-going cost reductions
– Projected GBP 1million savings in the first year of the contract

TNT Post’s team in the North has to date secured a number of significant customer wins during the first 18 months of trading and now has more than 500 customers in the area, including Liverpool FC, National Union of Teachers and a number of regional public sector bodies including Leeds University, Stockport College, Sheffield City Council and Congleton Council.

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Royal Mail embarks on modernisation

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

Royal Mail Group today announced profits, in line with expectations, of GBP 233m for the 2006-07 financial year – a fall of a third from the previous year, principally as a result of a sharp rise in pension fund costs by £193m to £722m. Underlying profits, omitting the benefit of GBP 75m from the Government’s Social Network Payment to support the loss making Post Office network showed a steeper decline, at £158m, less than half the prior year’s result.

Royal Mail said that pressures on its performance from rising pension costs, falling mail volumes and increased competition underlined the urgency with which it now needs to put the next stages of its modernisation plan into action. The Group now has in place the key elements on which that programme is built:

• Around £4bn commercial funding package from the Government to enable us to modernise the business and incentivise our people through our new ColleagueShare scheme
• Agreement with the unions on the flexibility and changes in working practices that are vital to modernise successfully
• Support from the unions for the pension reform needed to allow the Group to become competitive and to protect a Defined Benefit pension scheme for our existing employees

During the first five trading months of the current year, 2007-08, the pressures of falling mail volumes and competitor activity in the wider communications market have become significantly more pronounced, with revenue in the Royal Mail Letters business down £78m compared to the same five months in 2006-07.

Key issues for the company as we move forward are the continuing high cost of funding the pension scheme, the continuing decline in volumes as customers move to other forms of communication and the beginning of the huge investment we will now make in the modernisation of the company. All these factors combined mean that this year and next we expect to be operating at around breakeven.

The full results for the year and a current trading update are set out in the attached statement from the Chairman and Chief Executive.

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Green Post Project financed by the European Commission

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

On 31 October 2007, Poste Italiane presented in Perugia, Italy, the Green Post project carried out in cooperation with PostEurop and approved by the EC-EACI for its innovative nature and international commitment. The other European partners are:

– Magyar Posta (Hungary)
– La Poste – De Post (Belgium)
– The City of Perugia
– The University of Perugia/CIRIAF
– Legambiente
– Ducati Energia
– The University of Rousse (Bulgaria)

The programme, which is aimed at testing an electric and hybrid vehicle (the “Free Duck” Quadricycle), will be implemented during 30 months and consists in providing mail delivery service in the historical centre of the city of Perugia by means of 57 quadricycles (produced by “Ducati Energia”) with electric and hybrid traction as an alternative to the classic motorcycles currently used by postmen in Europe.

Similar initiatives are also to be developed in Brussels as well as in the historical center of Szentendre, Hungary, and PostEurop (Mr Antonino Scribellito, Project Manager) will be in charge of extending the initiative to other European operators.

Energy and environmental performances will be monitored in cooperation with the University of Perugia/CIRIAF in order to develop models aimed at the reduction of air and acoustic pollution in other urban areas.

The Universities involved (University of Perugia and University of Rousse) will share the results of the initiative which will be communicated at EU level during a final event organized under the umbrella of the European Agency.

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ACMA believes USPS should be very concerned about catalogue cuts

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

The executive director of the American catalogue Mailers Association (ACMA) told a congressional subcommittee that the U.S. Postal Service should be very concerned about many catalogers who have been forced to cut prospect mailings due to exorbitant postal rate increases.

ACMA Executive Director Hamilton Davison testified before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia on Oct. 30 during a hearing titled, “Will Increased Postal Rates put Mailers Out of Business?”

The response that should alarm the Postal Service the most, Davison testified, is that “catalogers are deciding to cut prospect mailings – a vital source for new business and the key to the industry’s continued growth.” Cutting prospect mailings today “limits postal revenue tomorrow,” he added.

Standard Mail flats were hit hard by the May 14 postal rate increases. “It’s been brutal,” Davison said. “We expected 9 pct -12 pct; we got 20 pct-40 pct. This put enormous pressure on the entire catalog industry.”

The latest postal rate hike was established according to the old rules of the U.S. Postal Service for rate cases. And the historic Postal Reform bill passed 11 months ago is supposed to preclude these types of prodigious increases.

The bill that passed, also known as the Postal Reform and Accountability Act – includes a rate-increase cap that ties future postage increases at or below the rate of inflation (Consumer Price Index) and strict criteria regarding conditions for emergency rate increases.

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Pitney Bowes praises Postal Regulatory Commission

Posted by | Oct 31, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc. today lauded the Postal Regulatory Commission for successfully creating new rules that ensure a vibrant future for the American mailstream.

The five-member commission has been working since January to write the regulations to implement the landmark postal reform bill signed into law last year. It has been a daunting task to translate the 28,000-word law into specific regulations that mailers and the U.S. Postal Service can use to guide their actions, and Pitney Bowes praised the commission’s hard work and good results.

The rules create a new system to set postal rates for market-dominant products, which represent the vast majority of the Postal Service’s business. The new system replaces the time-consuming and expensive “rate cases” used under the old law. In the new system, overall postal rates are capped at the rate of inflation (Consumer Price Index) and can be adjusted more frequently, thereby reducing the negative impact of infrequent and large changes in the cost of postage.

The highlights of the new rules include:

– A cap on annual rate increases for most classes of postal products, allowing mailers to plan and budget more effectively and encourage investment in the mailstream;
– Dynamic pricing that allows the U.S. Postal Service to use seasonal or temporary rates that give mailers incentives for “off-peak” mailings;
– Worksharing discounts that fully reflect the Postal Service’s avoided costs and enable mailers to benefit fully from presorting and other activities, further stimulating an increase in the value of mail in the postal system;
– A streamlined process for creating special customized rates for large mailers, or for mailers of any size that process their mail through third parties who make the overall postal system more efficient;
– Specific advance guidance that will allow mailers to understand the new rules and have sufficient time to adapt to future regulatory changes.

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