Tag: North America

USPS, Mexican PS Work to Improve Cross-Border Services

Posted by | Aug 22, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to help the Servicio Postal Mexicano (SEPOMEX) improve its management structure and processes, and to re-engineer its operations. SEPOMEX, in return, has agreed to work with the USPS in improving cross-border services.

The two groups have also agreed to explore joint business opportunities, writes DM News.

SEPOMEX handles about 700 million letters a year, compared to the 200 billion handled by the USPS. About 90 percent of what SEPOMEX handles is bulk mail, an area upon which both the USPS and the Mexican postal system hope to improve.

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AT&T Government Solutions awarded USD 22 Million by The United States Postal Service

Posted by | Aug 22, 2007 | |

AT&T Inc. has announced that AT&T Government Solutions has been awarded up to USD 22 million under the Postal Advanced Telecommunications Network (PATN) contract. AT&T will upgrade 1,800 United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities with its Enhanced Virtual Private Network (EVPN) service.

The project will increase the total number of AT&T-managed EVPN sites to more than 5,500. The EVPN service provides seamless, integrated high speed connectivity to support next-generation applications across the USPS nationwide network. The period of performance is up to three years.

AT&T will provide Managed Services, which include engineering and design, on-site installation and proactive network management and reporting. AT&T’s global Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-enabled network will serve as the platform for this VPN solution.

The USPS is one of many federal agencies facing increased traffic demands from the widespread deployment of next-generation application deployments across their organizations. EVPN solutions are a robust, scalable and cost-effective way to address federal agencies’ growing bandwidth demands while increasing overall network performance.

In 2006, AT&T upgraded more than 3,000 fully managed EVPN sites as part of a widespread USPS-Enterprise Site Upgrade initiative.

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Faulty refund process may cost USPS USD 500,000

Posted by | Aug 17, 2007 | |

The Office of the inspector general’s audit of the US Postal Service’s refund process in the Capital Metro area (comprising Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia) found that retail associates and customer service supervisors are not always properly processing and recording refunds of stamps, fees, retail services and Express Mail services.

As a result, the sites visited in the Capital Metro area have incurred USD 180,619 in unsupported, questioned costs and USD 531,784 in assets at risk for refunds of stamps, fees, retail services and Express Mail services.

The inspector general audited four sites in the Capital Metro area. However, the location of the sites is not public information, according to Deborah Yackley, media relations representative at the USPS.

To audit the sites, the office of the inspector general reviewed applicable policies and procedures in regard to the verification, approval and disbursement of refunds from January 2006 to July 2007. It obtained, reviewed and analyzed data from the point-of-service system, Retail Data Mart and Accounting Data Mart for the area districts under review to determine the amount of refunds processed.

The audit found that retail associates do not always complete refund documentation, enter the proper account identifier codes or provide signatures on Postal Service Forms 1412 in the Daily Financial Report.

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FedEx officer sells shares

Posted by | Aug 17, 2007 | |

The President and Chief Executive of a division of package delivery company FedEx Corp. sold 9,800 shares of common stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In a Form 4 filed with the SEC Thursday, David F. Rebholz reported he sold the shares Tuesday for USD 109 to USD 109.38 apiece.

Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their companies’ shares. Open market purchases and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.

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Library fears mail rate hike

Posted by | Aug 16, 2007 | |

In January a World Trade Organization ruling takes effect that would block Ottawa directly subsidizing postal rates for libraries. Canada Post would likely start charging libraries the full parcel rate – 13 times what it currently charges them to send materials to in the mail.

That would be a big hit for the Vancouver Island Regional Library system, which depends on the mail to reach customers in remote communities.

Brandon-Souris MP Merv Tweed, a Conservative, introduced a private members bill in June that would require Canada Post to continue the rate for books. Bill C458 would also expand it to include CDs and DVDs.

Not surprisingly, VIRL is backing the bill.

Board members hope users – and taxpayers – sign a petition available at library branches, and online at the virl.bc.ca website. They’re also soliciting support from member municipalities.

About 50 per cent of the population use libraries – much higher than other leisure facilities like swimming pools and recreation centres. But even non-users would be affected by higher costs, which mean higher taxes.

The library system, which serves the B.C. coast from Victoria to Queen Charlotte Islands, got unanimous support from Nanaimo city council and the Regional District of Nanaimo.

George Holme, RDN representative, takes a more pragmatic approach.

The federal government created the library book rate by an act of parliament in 1939, but in 1997 the World Trade Organization ruled Canada Post must bear the full cost of the subsidy. Canada Post won’t guarantee support for the rate beyond January 2008.

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