Tag: North America

Escher Group to Showcase New Technologies

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

Escher Group, Ltd., will be unveiling its latest offerings RiposteTrEX™, RiposteSaaS™, RiposteMCM™, and RTelemetry™ at this year’s Post-Expo in London. These new offerings address the multi-faceted role of the post in the modern electronic age.
RiposteTrEX™ is a business electronic mail system that replaces paper-based business mailings through the postal system by providing collection, clearance and delivery options through a closed access, secure messaging system that ensures electronic delivery of intact messages. RiposteTrEX is the next generation of the Riposte® messaging technology that has underpinned post office counter networks worldwide since 1993.
RiposteSaaS™ provides a cost-effective and flexible method for post offices to acquire the power of RiposteEssential™, Escher’s integrated POS (point-of-sale) solution. RiposteSaaS includes a set of modular applications supporting a broad range of retail and postal transactions that streamline business processes and provide the potential for increased revenue. RiposteSaas enables the rapid deployment of the modules where RiposteEssential is hosted as a service and provided to customers “on-demand”.
RiposteMCM™ enables post office customers to directly access, via the web, services that would otherwise require a visit to a post office outlet. These customers are able to log on to their account and view their available credit (supporting both a top-up and/or credit account model). They would then be able to perform a variety of postal transactions and print mailing labels and other supporting documentation right from their computer.

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New international shipping requirements effective Sept 30 (U.S)

Posted by | Sep 29, 2008 | |

Effective Sept. 30, the U.S. Census Bureau is requiring mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System (AES) or through AESDirect for all international shipments, where a Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) was previously required.

The electronic filing requirement applies when any type of goods (per Schedule B Export Codes at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/b/) is valued at more than USD 2,500 or requires an export license under U.S. law. The Electronic Export Information (EEI) must be filed through the Census Bureau’s AES or AESDirect website by the mailer or an authorized agent. The Postal Service never acts as an authorized agent. Export information filed in hardcopy on Commerce Form 7525-V, Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED), will no longer be accepted.

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FedEx gains USD 1.37bn US government contract

Posted by | Sep 26, 2008 | |

The United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has awarded a contract to FedEx and its team a contract worth an estimated USD 1.37 billion, with a minimum guarantee of USD 150.7 million.

The contract, announced earlier this month, is for international airlift services, which includes the short and long-range transport of Department of Defense passengers and cargo. The Federal Express Team is a consortium that also includes Air Transport, Atlas Air, Northwest Airlines, Omni Air International, Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, and Tradewinds Airlines.

According to the USTRANSCOM Office of Legislative Affairs, the work under this agreement will be undertaken at FedEx hubs and the hubs of team members around the world, and is expected to be completed by September 2009. FedEx competed among 30 proposals for this contract.

The mission of USTRANSCOM is to provide air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense.

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Senators: Government should block UPS-DHL deal

Posted by | Sep 25, 2008 | |

The Justice Department should block a proposed deal between package delivery companies UPS Inc. and DHL Express because it would violate antitrust laws and eliminate thousands of jobs, a pair of Democratic senators said Thursday.

UPS would provide air transport services for DHL’s North American business for 10 years under a contract the two companies are developing, UPS said in May. Currently, two independent airlines provide the services.

The contract, expected to be completed later this year, could result in USD 1 billion of additional annual revenue for UPS. Other terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

But the arrangement also could lead to the closure of a DHL air freight and sorting facility in Wilmington, Ohio, and eliminate 9,000 jobs, the senators’ letter said.

The deal “will substantially diminish, if not eliminate, the competition between DHL and UPS by rendering DHL a captive of UPS rather than an independent competitor,” Sens. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in the letter. Kohl chairs a Senate antitrust subcommittee.

Norman Black, a spokesman for UPS, said the agreement is a “straight vendor contract” and not subject to antitrust oversight.

Ohio state officials have urged DHL to find other alternatives, but a DHL executive said earlier this month the company is struggling and losing USD 5 million a day. DHL is a unit of German postal service Deutsche Post AG.

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Poor economy drives down mail volume at Postal Service (U.S)

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

The ailing economy has dealt the U.S. Postal Service its biggest quarterly drop in mail volume since 2002.

The Postal Service has already lost more than USD 1 billion this year, and officials say there’s no change in sight.

Mail volume has fallen every quarter since the first quarter of 2007, but the third quarter decline was the biggest since early 2002. The economic slowdown has been particularly tough for the Postal Service because the industries hit hardest — finance, energy and housing — are big mailers.

Rising fuel costs have also strained the Postal Service’s finances; expenses were up USD 200 million last quarter, largely due to gas prices.

The Postal Service has trimmed nearly USD 2 billion in costs this year, largely through a combination of new technology that improves efficiency and reductions in labor costs.

But postal officials say more reforms are needed.

The agency’s “network plan,” released this summer, calls for the closure of many large processing facilities that are no longer operating at full capacity. And the Postal Service is finalizing a new five-year plan, which will outline more changes to the postal network.

The five-year plan also calls for a realignment of the Postal Service’s retail facilities. The Postal Service hopes new mail-processing technology, like the Flats Sequencing System, will allow it to close its out-of-the-way retail facilities.

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