Tag: North America

ASTAR pilots ratify contract

ASTAR Air Cargo pilots have ratified a labor contract with the company, concluding long and sometimes contentious negotiations.

About 88 percent of eligible ASTAR pilots voted on the proposal, with 93 percent of them in favor, according to ASTAR Air Cargo Capt. Patrick Walsh, chairman of the ASTAR pilots union master executive council.

Under the terms of the deal, ASTAR flight crewmembers will receive retroactive pay and more than 20 percent in pay increases during the course of the four-year agreement, according to a news release from the crewmembers’ union, the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA).

In addition, the pilots get furlough protection and a commitment from the company to secure new aircraft, the release said.

One aspect of the job security convenant in the contract prevents the company from laying off any pilot for the first two years of the agreement, which will go into effect Saturday.

The two sides began negotiations in January 2005, and since April 2006 the talks were held with the assistance of the National Mediation Board.

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Canada Post Hosts 'LIFT,' 5th Annual Direct Summit for Retailers

Canada Post announced today the conference dates for the Direct Summit, a conference dedicated to the advancement of the Multi-Channel Retail Industry in Canada. Summit delegates will meet April 21-23 at the Pantages Hotel and Spa in Toronto.

“The main theme for this year’s conference centers on the customer experience and increasing the lift in consumer response through direct marketing,” said Laurene Cihosky, SVP of Direct Marketing for Canada Post. “Retailers at the Summit have a tremendous opportunity to network and talk about what works.”

The Direct Summit will include speakers from Google Inc., LL Bean, JC Williams Group and Future Shop, winner of the Retail Council of Canada’s 2007 Multi-Channel Retailer of the Year award. More than 130 retailers attended the Summit last year.

The keynote speaker is Jeanne Bliss, managing partner at CustomerBliss and author of Chief Customer Officer; Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action. For 25 years, Jeanne Bliss reported to the Presidents of direct retailer Lands’ End, Allstate, Mazda, Microsoft and Coldwell Banker Corporation as their Chief Customer Officer. Bliss is considered a leader in changing the culture and DNA of companies and making them more effective.

The Direct Summit is unique because of the peer-to-peer interaction. Senior delegates will learn strategies their peers are employing to capitalize on Canada’s strong dollar, and identify co-marketing partnerships to attract and convert new market segments. Add to that, a “Catalogue Critique Clinic” which will provide expert advice from executives at St. Joseph Content/Pi Media, who will review a number of current North American catalogues, identifying what works in each and what can be improved.

According to eMarketer, the Canadian direct retail industry will have increased by 45 percent by the end of 2007. Senior Analyst, Jeffrey Grau, will present eMarketer’s new forecast about online retail sales in Canada and will discuss which factors will drive market growth in 2008 and beyond. Jeff will also draw from a rich set of survey data from eMarketer’s latest report on Canada’s growing “etailing” industry and U.S. multi-channel retailing trends to present lessons for Canadian online retail marketers.

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Dump the junk mail (Canada)

Albertans opt out of receiving unaddressed ad mail at a rate of more than twice the national average, according to Canada Post. Canada-wide, only six per cent of households ask the postal service not to deliver unaddressed ad mail. Fourteen per cent, or 206,000 Alberta households, ask Canada Post to stop.

Grassroots efforts in the province may have boosted our spurning of junk mail. One such effort is the Dump the Junk campaign, launched by the Clean Calgary Association about a year ago. Since the campaign’s start, the non-profit environmental organization has sold more than 5,000 “no junk mail” stickers at USD 2 a pop. These stickers help stop unaddressed ad mail. The campaign also provides information on how to stop addressed ad mail by removing yourself from marketing contact lists.

Lindsay Luhnau, who helped launch the Dump the Junk campaign, says if enough people exercise their consumer choice, there will be a net reduction in the volume of ad mail produced and, ultimately, fewer trees will be cut down.

John Caines, a spokesperson for Canada Post, says the postal service’s advanced databases allow marketers to see how many people have opted out of receiving ad mail, which not only helps the environment, but also saves companies money by preventing them from printing more flyers than needed.

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Ken May resigns as leader of FedEx Kinkos

FedEx Corp. announced last 7th March that Ken May has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Kinkos. Brian Philips, Chief Operating Officer of FedEx Kinkos, will become acting CEO.

May assumed leadership of Dallas-based FedEx Kinkos in January 2006, and his resignation is effective March 31. In a letter today to FedEx Kinkos team members, May said, after an incredible 25-year career with FedEx, the time has come for me to resign and refocus my energy on my family, friends and other personal interests.

Ken has been a true ambassador for our people-first philosophy throughout his career, and he relied on that philosophy to transform the culture at FedEx Kinkos, said T. Michael Glenn, Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Services, which includes the operations of FedEx Kinkos.

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USPS/HBO Ads Send a Message — by Mail

HBO is joining forces for the first time with the Postal Service, for a multimillion-dollar, multimedia campaign that is all about the write stuff.

The campaign, now under way, is promoting “John Adams,” a seven-part mini-series that is scheduled to begin on the cable network on March 16.

The television, print, online, retail and promotional campaign is intended to invoke the pleasures of sitting right down and writing yourself — or anyone — a letter.

The campaign will even help you do that, by offering free cards, with postage paid, that you can send to whomever you choose.

The campaign, by the Civic Entertainment Group in New York, seeks to demonstrate what it calls the “Power of the letter,” which is also the U.R.L. for a special Postal Service Web site that is a central element of the campaign (poweroftheletter.com).

The Web site is the work of AKQA, which was recently named digital agency of the year by the trade publication Adweek.

A section of a Web site from HBO that is devoted to the miniseries (johnadams08.com) also directs visitors to the letter-power site.

The campaign also appears on the main Postal Service Web site (usps.com) as well as on placards and posters in post offices around the country.

Even the cancellation marks on envelopes and the sales receipts given by postal employees to customers are carrying the address of the special Web site along with a quotation from Adams: “Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”

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