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FedEx announces 2008 pension freeze

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

FedEx is planning to freeze its traditionally-defined benefit plans, moving employees to an existing cash-balance plan. The FedEx freeze of its USD 11.5 billion plan is effective June 1, 2008.

Watchdog groups have long suspected that older workers are being “squeezed out” of FedEx in order to reduce pension payments and other benefits to employees based on seniority.

FedEx bean-counters may be hoping the news of the pension freeze will cause more of FedEx’s older workers to choose early retirement.

Because benefits earned before the point of the pension freeze are protected by law, workers and retirees who leave employment before the freeze do not stand to lose benefits. A pension freeze only affects those employees who continue to work for the company.

Pension freezes often have the strongest impact on older workers. In 2005, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report which found that a typical cash balance plan provides lower benefits for most workers than a traditional plan. The report states that this decline in benefits tends to be largest for older workers.

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UK Postmen may deliver strike next month

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

The first national postal strike in more than ten years could cripple services as early as next month as the Communication Workers Union prepares to mount a strike ballot this week.

The union’s postal executive is expected to ratify a strike ballot later today or tomorrow as it meets to discuss Royal Mail’s plans for a pay freeze with only lump sums of Pounds 600 available if employees change their ways of working.

The last time that a strike ballot was mounted, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) narrowly lost a vote in favour. However, then Royal Mail had offered a 14 per cent pay increase over three years.

A strike at Royal Mail would come as the group is preparing to announce a large fall in profits for the year to the end of March. Its interim profits fell 86 per cent to Pounds 22 million and the organisation has lost more business since then.

Industrial action could also put Royal Mail on a collision course with the industry regulator if a strike causes problems for rival operators and if it is thought that Royal Mail could have averted disruption. Royal Mail’s rivals tend to use the postal organisation for the final-mile delivery of the mail that they handle because they need its infrastructure. They could try to seek damages against the organisation if their services are disrupted because of a strike at Royal Mail.

Royal Mail has set out a 22-point plan to reduce costs by Pounds 350 million this year as it struggles to improve its productivity. The company is investing more than Pounds 1 billion in automation and is expected to cut up to 30 per cent of jobs -nearly 50,000 -when new equipment is installed. Its investment is coming from a Pounds 3.9 billion rescue package from the Government that was agreed in February.

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Quality of service: Awards for Belarus, Germany and Hungary

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

The postal operators of Belarus, Germany and Hungary were today awarded for their quality of service management results.

The UPU certification programme, which was adopted in 2003, rewards postal operators that apply quality management procedures in their postal structures, guarantee a particularly high standard in their international mail service, and actively participate in quality improvement programmes.

The programme, which evaluates quality on the basis of values other than speed and regularity, provides a level playing field for all Posts to apply for certification on an equal footing, irrespective of their infrastructures and level of development.

These three countries now join the six that have already won awards (Ukraine, Jordan, Tunisia, Denmark, Eritrea and Switzerland).

According to Mr. Laszló SZIVI, Vice-President of Magyar Posta, this award represents not only “International recognition of the efforts made by its postal enterprise to achieve the standards set by the UPU, but is also an accolade from the postal community to the Hungarian operator for meeting the growing needs of customers and investing in its structures and staff, in order to provide a quality service”. The programme “Presents customers with a very positive brand image of the Post”, asserts Laszló SZIVI, adding, “I urge all postal operators to apply for certification”.

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Wind turbine to power IRIS mail routing platform

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

Mail Handling International are to announce the commissioned installation of a state of the art Wind Turbine to power its IRIS mail routing platform. The energy offset turbine sited on the roof of MHI’s UK HQ will on windy days generate 125% of the power required to run IRIS!

Gary Barnett, MHI Group Operations Director, was delighted to emphasise that
“Routing mail efficiently with IRIS has been the key to MHI’s rapid growth and success, now running profiles and cleaning data is also carbon neutral…”

Gary added “At MHI we are always looking to improve our post handling efficiencies and this is just one of a number of initiatives underway for 2007” MHI’s CEO Paul Brown is enthusiastic to point out “The success of IRIS has allowed MHI to once again re-invest in the future of the business, the wind turbine will power all of our processing servers and contribute to the overall efficiency of the business as we rapidly grow to meet client’s mail routing needs”

Paul added “Visitors to the Triangle World Mail Awards 21-23 May in London will be able to experience the routing efficiency of IRIS first hand regardless of whether the wind is blowing!” www.mailawards.com.

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USPS mail internationally and domestically with one package

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

For the first time since 1995, the Postal Service’s familiar and trusted products for shipping domestically and internationally will have a new look.

With a focus on convenience, the Postal Service has redesigned all Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes, including the popular Flat Rate boxes and envelopes. Mailers can use the same Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging whether they are shipping within the United States or to another country, beginning May 14.

The design has a fresher, crisper look. The Postal Service logo is prominent alongside international symbols for use by foreign posts. The new design has ample space for required forms, labels and Intelligent Mail® barcodes.

The new packaging is expected to begin arriving in Post Offices across the country this week. All packaging also is available online at USPS.com.

Nick Barranca stressed that the Postal Service will continue to accept all existing international and domestic Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging. Barranca is vice president of product development for the Postal Service.

Express Mail and Priority Mail packages and envelopes remain available free of charge — as does package pickup.

Customers can take advantage of the personal convenience and service of having packages picked up at no extra charge at their home, saving a trip to the Post Office. Unlike other shipping companies, there is no fee for the service. Carrier Pickup is available for packages being sent by Express Mail or Priority Mail — domestic or international. There is no limit to the number of packages that can be picked up.

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USPS – Postal services offer in church

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

To provide Americans with greater convenience, the U.S. Postal Service has contracts nationwide with private operators who offer postal services at any hour.

The outlets are typically at drug stores, convenience stores, supermarkets and colleges, and they offer evening, weekend and holiday hours.

That convenience is worthwhile. But theres a catch.

The U.S. Postal Service also has made deals with several churches to operate contract postal units. One operated by the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in Manchester, N.H., called Sincerely Yours Inc., is full of evangelical Christian displays, including posters, advertisements, artwork and photography.

For example, to the right of the postal counter, a large religious display informs customers about Jesus Christ and invites them to submit a prayer card if they need prayer in their lives. To the left of the postal counter, a television monitor plays church-related religious videos for customers waiting in line.

And this is the only post office in the downtown area, leaving no doubt that a reasonable person would see the displays as an endorsement of that church and its evangelical mission.

The U.S. Constitution includes postal services, which have been a traditional government function. On that basis, the Postal Service needs to ensure that churches arent using contract post offices to proselytize and entangle government in promoting religion.

The judge ordered the Postal Service to tell all contract postal units that in providing postal services for the government, they shall not act in a manner that proselytizes or advances religion and to monitor compliance. He ordered the church to remove displays in the contract postal unit.

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Global package race puts major carriers to the test

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

How hard is it to deliver a package to Ouagadougou? A group from the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, one of the most respected logistics programs in the world, puts the major carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to the test every year with its Great Package Race, a contest to see which carrier can get a package to a very challenging locale the fastest and in the best condition.
A group of 60 logistics students, led by logistics expert John Bartholdi, a professor in the Stewart School, sends identical boxes bound for places like Lomé, Togo and Split, Croatia. With no indication that there’s a competition underway, each carrier picks up its parcel, and the race begins.

Admittedly, the race is an extreme test of the carriers’ ability to deliver anywhere in the world, Bartholdi said. This year’s packages were sent on April 13 to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma); Tikrit, Iraq (one of the centers of Sunni insurgency); Floranopolis, Brazil (a small island); Harare, Zimbabwe and Apia, Samoa. Most packages arrived with a week or two, but one has yet to be delivered or returned.

DHL beat the competition this year, delivering first to three of the five locations and second to the remaining two. FedEx managed to deliver to three locations, and UPS delivered parcels to two. The remaining packages from FedEx and UPS went undelivered for a variety of reasons. In past races, the carriers traded wins in different locales.

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FedEx Trade Networks launches redesigned WorldTariff web site

Posted by | May 1, 2007 | |

FedEx Trade Networks, Inc., is launching its redesigned WorldTariffSM Web site. The Web site, located at www.worldtariff.com, provides complete duty and tax information for 123 countries, updated by an editorial staff with region-specific tariff knowledge and local language skills.
The redesigned WorldTariff Web site includes more online duty and tax content, an improved look and feel, on-demand access, and simplified pricing. In addition to annual subscription offerings, WorldTariff now enters the on-demand trade facilitation content market by providing convenient access to duty and tax information without an annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement.
Customers can now register online and pay with a credit card for only USD7 per online query. A USD7 online query provides customers complete duty and tax information for an entire 4-digit heading pertaining to the destination country of their choice (up to 123 countries), including:
• Every fully qualified Harmonized System (HS) code under a chosen 4-digit heading
• Most Favored Nation (MFN) applied duty rate, Value Added Tax (VAT), excise tax and miscellaneous taxes assessed at import
• Preferences that pertain to fully-qualified HS codes under the chosen heading, from all origin countries in the WorldTariff database, all on the same screen
• Tariff descriptions in English
• No annual commitment or minimum purchase requirement (frequent users may still opt for annual subscriptions)

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