Tag: North America

Drop in U.S. first class mail deliveries

Posted by | Jun 9, 2007 | |

At its peak in 2001, the U.S. Postal Service delivered 103.7 billion pieces of first-class mail.

But as the Internet and cellular technologies continued to boom, that number of deliveries dwindled to 97.6 billion pieces last year.

The drop in first class mail deliveries has prompted the USPS to review each of their distribution facilities and, where necessary, combine facilities. The review recently included the local distribution center, which employs 137 people in its delivery and mail processing center. Roughly half of the employees work in the processing side of the plant.

The recently completed Area Mail Processing (AMP) study of the Zanesville outgoing processing center reveals that combining it with another facility would not improve mail delivery efficiency, so the McIntire Avenue site will remain intact.

The study looked at only the processing of single-piece first-class stamped mail. It looked at the center’s volume of that type of mail, the number of cancelations and the levels of sorting that goes on at the facility. There has been a 22 percent drop in single-pieces first-class stamped mail since 1998, according to Dubina.

The office serves as a sorting and distribution site and it also serves as a mailing center from where local carriers are based.

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Online retailers need to innovate more: eBay’s Briggs

Posted by | Jun 6, 2007 | |

The online retail space is growing with bandwidth expansion, and retailers need to match the growth with innovative ideas, according to a panel here at yesterday’s Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition.

In his presentation titled “How eBay will Continue Reshaping the E-Retialing Industry,” Gary Briggs, chief marketing officer at eBay, challenged his counterparts in attendance at the show to think more outside the box.

“Online retail is rapidly maturing but we are not doing enough to innovate,” Mr. Briggs said. “I am offering a call to action to the industry to innovate more.”

One problem with the retail industry today is that online is not given the credit for what it is, according to Mr. Briggs. Online spending is often much less than traditional retail spend.

Also, retailers are not coming up with their own ideas but merely copying others.

“There is a lot more to offer than just free shipping,” Mr. Briggs said. “Free shipping is important but when I go to Web sites and look at how the marketing is done, there has to be more than free shipping to compete.”

Mr. Briggs said the way to innovate is for the brand to give up control and listen more to the consumer.

One example is the introduction of eBay Motors. EBay noticed a trend of users selling cars on its site, but it did not have a category for it on www.ebay,com. Users were listing cars in categories like toys and this was not increasing the sales. Since eBay added eBay Motors, the online retail giant has sold 2.5 million cars a year.

“Our system of innovation is more than what is inside the four walls of our company,” Mr. Briggs said. “We are trying to let the users help us shape how we create our Web site and offer products to customers.”

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DMA asks USPS to extend rate relief for flats

Posted by | Jun 6, 2007 | |

The Direct Marketing Association is calling on the U.S. Postal Service’s Governors to quickly implement the rate reductions recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission for Standard Mail flats. The DMA is also asking that the temporary rate relief be extended beyond the Sept. 29 deadline recommended by the PRC.

The PRC’s Second Opinion and Recommended Decision on Reconsideration, which was issued May 25, establishes a transitional temporary rate reduction of 3 cents for all Standard Mail Regular flats and 2 cents for Standard Regular nonprofit flats.

In a letter to the Governors submitted June 4, the DMA asked the them to approve the rate reduction without the deadline, leaving it in effect until the next postal rate change, likely in mid-2008, under the new procedures established by the postal reform law, which was signed by President Bush on December 20.

In the letter, the DMA noted that the PRC “responded positively to the Governors’ and the mailers’ concerns regarding the excessive increases initially recommended for Standard Regular flats. Now it is the Governors’ responsibility to implement the revised rates, and the DMA urges the Governors to approve the commission’s recommendation and provide mailers just as soon as possible with the rate relief recommended by the commission.”

However, the DMA also cautioned that the temporary discounts offered to flat mailers would only postpone substantial cuts in mailing volumes and a further decrease in revenues for the USPS.

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SkuTouch Solutions introduces USPS Parcel Return Service

Posted by | Jun 4, 2007 | |

SkuTouch Solutions, recently received qualification from the United States Postal Service(USPS), to become their Parcel Return Service provider. As a result SkuTouch will continue to further its expansion of Click Parcel Returns (CPR). The approval comes after SkuTouch completed USPS’s stringent internal qualifications procedures.

Click Parcel Returns is a North American recovery network that eliminates unnecessary freight charges by taking advantage of multiple return, inspection, refurbishment and consolidation centers. The relationship with USPS gives SkuTouch immediate access to a comprehensive drop off, pick-up and distribution network adding convenience scalability, efficiency and cost effectiveness to the returns process.

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Siemens in U.S. Postal Service deal

Posted by | Jun 3, 2007 | |

Siemens AG said Wednesday it received a USD 218 million subcontract from Northrop Grumman Corp. for a project with the U.S. Postal Service.

Siemens will provide optical character recognition and video coding systems, among other items, to help the Postal Service further automate its processing stream for large envelopes, catalogs and magazines.

Siemens’ U.S.-listed shares lost USD 1.88 at USD 130.32 in morning trading, while Northrop Grumman fell 13 cents to USD 75.08.

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