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Japan Post: Postal reforms to start in earnest

Posted by | Sep 27, 2007 | |

Japan Post will be split into four business entities–Japan Post Network, Japan Post Service, Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance–under a holding company called Japan Post Holdings Co.

Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance will aim to list their stocks on the market in about three years, and all of their shares held by the government will be sold within 10 years to fully privatize themselves.

The holding company will also aim to list its shares, but the government will keep a more than one-third stake in it.

The massive amount of funds flowing into postal savings and insurance have long been used for the purchase of government bonds and for loans to public corporations. The primary purpose of postal privatization is to change the nature of postal savings and insurance from one of public financing, so the private sector can utilize funds deposited by people effectively.

Japan Post Bank holds 222 trillion yen in total assets, while Japan Post Insurance has 112 trillion yen. They will become the nation’s biggest bank and life insurance Company, respectively.

Japan Post Bank plans to enter the housing loan and consumer credit card businesses, with an eye to providing loans to corporations, among other business goals. Japan Post Insurance aims to enter the medical insurance and other markets.

Japan Post Bank wants to abolish ceilings on deposits while Japan Post Insurance hopes to raise the ceilings on the insurance benefits.

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Daily newspapers increase spending with U.S. postal service

Posted by | Sep 27, 2007 | |

The nation’s daily newspapers are spending nearly USD 1 billion on postage for services from the U.S. Postal Service, according to a national survey by the Newspaper Association of America. According to the survey, newspapers spent more than USD 972 million in 2006 compared with USD 901 million in 2004 and USD 700 million in 2002.

“Collectively, daily newspapers are a leading customer of the U.S. Postal Service and many of our member newspapers are the largest mailers in their local markets,” said John F. Sturm, president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America. The national survey also found that 47 percent of the Standard Mail products mailed by daily newspapers— principally newspapers’ Total Market Coverage product — are entered at local post offices called Destination Delivery Units.

These products are equally distributed through both high-density and saturation rates. The findings reinforce the importance of local entry and the partnership newspapers have with local postal delivery units to ensure that advertising products are delivered in a timely and efficient manner to meet the needs of a newspaper’s advertising customers.”

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Posties lodge complaint against Australia Post

Posted by | Sep 26, 2007 | |

The union representing Tasmania’s postal workers has lodged a complaint against Australia Post in the Industrial Relations Commission in Hobart, relating to a secret ballot for protected industrial action.

The Communications Union says up to a fifth of its members didn’t receive ballot papers, and there was a week’s delay in the delivery of the documents after their lodgment in Melbourne.

The union’s Tasmanian secretary, Peter Miller, says the process under the Federal Government’s new workplace laws has been a sham.

A spokesman for Australia Post, Ian Cropper, has rejected the union’s claims.

“There’s no evidence to suggest that the ballot papers have been delayed and for the union to infer that Australia Post is to blame just doesn’t add up,” he said.

“The ballot process is handled entirely independently of Post by the Australian Electoral Commission.”

The union has rejected Australia Post’s offer of a 12 pct pay rise over two and a half years and a USD 500 performance bonus, while locking in all existing award entitlements and conditions.

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USPS racks up USD 5.4 B deficits in 2007

Posted by | Sep 26, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service anticipates a USD 600 million deficit in the next fiscal year, thanks to a new law that requires the agency to fully fund its retiree health benefits out of its operating budget.

The projected 2008 deficit will be a big improvement, however, from the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, in which the Postal Service racked up an estimated USD 5.4 billion deficit. The Postal Service was hit with a double whammy this year, having to pay out its 2006 obligations toward the retiree health program in 2007 along with the current year’s payment.

The fiscal 2008 budget, approved Wednesday by the Postal Service Board of Governors, includes a 4.3 percent increase in operating revenue, due largely to the 2-cent rate hike that took effect in May. No additional rate increase was included in the 2008 budget.
Expenses will increase 1.8 percent, below the projected 2 percent increase in the cost of goods and services. Overall, the operating budget totals USD 78.8 billion.

The 2008 budget predicts a record ninth consecutive year of productivity growth.

The board also approved a capital budget of USD 3.0 billion for 2008, up from USD 2.8 billion this year. The budget includes USD 107.2 million to design and build a new 479,000-square-foot mail processing facility in Miami. The new facility will house five large letter-sorting machines and allow the agency to handle significant growth in the region for the next 20 years.

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Kuehne + Nagel Open New Offices in Russia

Posted by | Sep 26, 2007 | |

With the opening of a branch in Kaliningrad and an airfreight office at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport, Kuehne + Nagel is continuing its expansion
course in Russia.

Kuehne + Nagel’s new branch office in Kaliningrad will initially focus on offering seafreight services. In the course of next year, the portfolio will be expanded to include overland, warehousing and airfreight solutions.

Kuehne + Nagel has also opened a new airfreight office at Moscow Domodedovo (DME). Located on the premises of the cargo terminal, customers are offered the full scope of airfreight import, export and transit services, including Kuehne + Nagel’s new Cargo 2000 based airfreight products, as well as comprehensive customs services.

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USPS delivers Northrop Grumman technical support services contract

Posted by | Sep 26, 2007 | |

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Postal Service to provide independent verification and validation (IV&V) services for Postal Service delivery and retail systems.

The five-year task order has a potential value of USD 21 million and was awarded under the U.S. Postal Service Information Business Systems Support contract.

Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector will design software test plans and procedures, perform software certification and testing, and submit test results for delivery, retail and customer service systems developed by the Postal Service and its technology providers. In addition, Northrop Grumman will conduct analyses and assessments of technical specifications that will help determine a system’s ability to meet Postal Service needs and requirements.

“Northrop Grumman will draw on its years of experience as a technical provider and product supplier to the Postal Service, as well as its IV&V experience, to help its Retail and Delivery organization increase productivity and develop innovative ways to deliver the best service to its customers,” said Linda Mills, president of Northrop Grumman IT’s Civilian Agencies group.

The company expects to hire an additional 32 employees to support this task order. Work on the contract will be done in Merrifield, Va.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a USD 30 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.

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