Tag: North America

Postal Service faces new challenges

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Even with postage rates going up, the Postal Service expects a deficit this year as struggles with a swiftly changing communications market, Postmaster General John Potter said Tuesday.
“The dynamics of the 21st century communications market have altered — forever — the basic assumptions of postal economics,” Potter said in remarks prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform postal subcommittee.

The rapid growth of electronics communications have resulted in declines in lucrative first-class mail, though lower-cost advertising mail continues to increase.

In addition, private companies have taken a growing share of the package and rapid delivery market.

“Competition exists for every piece of mail that we move through our system,” Potter said.

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FedEx Truckload Brokerage launches

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

FedEx Custom Critical, Inc. has introduced a new company to meet customers’ truckload shipping needs—FedEx Truckload Brokerage.

The new company, officially opened for business Jan. 2, 2007, offers customers full-service truckload brokerage solutions. Options range from brokerage solutions for regular, dry-van freight to oversized pieces requiring flatbed trailers. Additional resources can also be utilized for shipments requiring temperature control.

Customers who call FedEx Truckload Brokerage work directly with a logistics account manager. The account manager handles all aspects of the shipment, from initial setup to finding the right carrier and providing the final invoice. These capabilities are available for customers throughout the continental United States.

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U.S. Postal Service expects deficit this year

Posted by | Apr 17, 2007 | |

Even with postage rates going up, the Postal Service expects a deficit this year as struggles with a swiftly changing communications market, Postmaster General John Potter said Tuesday.

“The dynamics of the 21st century communications market have altered – forever – the basic assumptions of postal economics,” Potter said in remarks prepared for the House Oversight and Government Reform postal subcommittee.

The rapid growth of electronics communications have resulted in declines in lucrative first-class mail, though lower-cost advertising mail continues to increase.

In addition, private companies have taken a growing share of the package and rapid delivery market.

“Competition exists for every piece of mail that we move through our system,” Potter said.

In 1970, Potter pointed out, the U.S. Postal Service’s 741,000 employees delivered 85 billion pieces of mail . Last year, with about same number of workers, the agency delivered 213 billion pieces of mail.

But, he said, “We can no longer depend on volume growing at a rate necessary to produce the revenue required to cover the costs of an ever-expanding delivery infrastructure.”

Potter said the agency is exploring expanded use of contract services to move mail and is looking for other ways to reduce costs.

This fiscal year the agency is facing a projected loss of USD 5.2 billion, Potter said, much of which results from a new requirement for advance funding of health benefits.

Postal rates go up May 14, with the price of a first-class stamp rising 2 cents to 41 cents.

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Shea to Lead Washington Office for Pitney Bowes

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes Inc. has appointed Dennis Shea to lead the company’s lobbying efforts in Washington. Shea succeeds David Nassef, who is returning to Connecticut after ten years in Washington to support Chairman and CEO Michael Critelli in a wide range of assignments.

In addition to leading the company’s efforts at the federal level, Shea also will be responsible for Pitney Bowes’ government relations activities in Canada and Latin America. Shea’s role complements the work of the Pitney Bowes postal relations team, which is also based in Washington.

Shea’s appointment comes just four months after President Bush signed a comprehensive postal reform bill into law, the culmination of a legislative effort in which Pitney Bowes had been involved for many years. Shea is already well versed in the mailing industry, having served in 2003 as executive director of the bipartisan President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, co-chaired by James A. Johnson and Harry Pearce. The commission played a pivotal role in accelerating momentum toward enactment of postal reform.

As executive director of the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, Shea oversaw the creation of “Embracing the Future,” the commission’s comprehensive report outlining more than thirty specific recommendations to ensure the long-term survival of the Postal Service. Many of these recommendations found their way into the subsequent debate over postal reform, which culminated in legislation that passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming bipartisan majorities.

Shea came to Washington DC upon graduation from Harvard Law School in 1986 and has served in a number of policy, political and lobbying roles since then.

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First American launches ParcelPoint to increase accuracy of addresses for geo-applications

Posted by | Apr 16, 2007 | |

The First American Corporation announced the release of ParcelPoint™. This database offers a new level of accuracy in matching addresses with their exact geographical position on the map. ParcelPoint technology, which relies on real property latitude and longitude coordinates, combines the company’s extensive parcel and address information database with its proprietary analytical models to render accurate location identification.

Today’s navigation and location solutions typically use address ranges rather than specific property data to identify properties. These solutions develop an “intelligent guess” about where a street address may be, based on the assumption that properties are evenly spaced and use conventional numbering systems. However, when streets use unconventional numbering, aren’t evenly spaced, or contain empty lots, current geographic location systems may yield inaccurate results. This is for example the case at our office. The location displayed on the map, on Google Maps or Mapquest (both powered by Navteq) is about 4 houses away from where we really are… and it is exactly the same with a GPS navigation system powered by TeleAtlas.

First American is ready to provide partners access to its current data set which will achieve coverage for the majority of the United States population by the end of 2007, with a goal of having 80 percent of the nation’s parcels mapped by the end of 2008.

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