Tag: North America

Deals with mass-mailers, labor unions hurt customers

Posted by | May 9, 2008 | |

On Monday [May 12], the price of a first-class stamp will rise by a penny. With gas now costing nearly four bucks a gallon, a 42-cent stamp may not sound like much. But while stamp prices climb, the Postal Service keeps offering sweetheart deals to bulk mailers and the postal labor unions.

Ordinary consumers ought to ask why the Postal Service is delivering for everyone but them.

In the last decade, stamp prices have gone up 31 percent. Following sweeping congressional reforms in 2006, the Postal Service hinted at annual rate increases. With Monday’s increase — the second in as many years — the Postal Service seems to have settled on raising prices each year in mid-May.

At the same time, the Postal Service has taken to offering discounts to big mailers based on how much mail they send. When done right, such agreements can save both the Postal Service and the mailer money. But in several previous agreements, the Postal Service has either granted a discount for mail that would have been sent anyway or granted discounts deemed excessive by regulators.

In 2006, the Postal Service’s regulator issued a decision on an agreement with Bank One. The report wondered whether discounts were necessary in light of expert analysis revealing “tremendous growth in the amount of direct mail solicitation undertaken by the credit card industry.”

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UPS board declares dividend

Posted by | May 8, 2008 | |

The UPS Board of Directors today declared a regular quarterly dividend of USD 0.45 per share on all outstanding Class A and Class B shares.

The dividend is payable June 3, 2008, to shareholders of record on May 19, 2008. UPS has either increased or maintained its dividend every year for more than three decades.

The newly elected Board, in setting its structure for the year, changed the composition of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. That committee will include independent directors Duane Ackerman, Ann Livermore and Stuart Eizenstat and will be chaired by Ackerman.

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DHL Vice President wins award from leading transportation industry advocacy group

Posted by | May 8, 2008 | |

DHL announced that Al Burba, vice president of field sales for DHL Express, has been honored as the 2008 “NASSTRAC Associate Member of the Year.

NASSTRAC provides education, advocacy, connections and solutions for professionals involved in all areas of transportation. NASSTRAC’s Chairperson, Gail Rutkowski, along with its executive committee and staff, recommended Burba for the award due in part to his active leadership role with the organization’s newly formed Carrier Advisory Council.

According to Rutkowski, Burba has also assisted in the development of curriculum for educational forums, secured shipper participation in NASSTRAC, and brought new, creative thinking and approaches to the organization, which has helped professionals who manage freight decisions collaborate with fellow supplier members.

NASSTRAC involves mid- to upper-level management of transportation or supply chain management companies. Industries including retail, pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetics, food and beverage, and manufacturing are represented. As a leading advocacy organization for the transportation industry, NASSTRAC helps its members stay on top of legislative developments, regulatory issues and related transportation issues impacting shippers.

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UPS shareowners elect board and reappoint Deloitte & Touche

Posted by | May 8, 2008 | |

Shareowners of UPS elected a Board of Directors for a one-year term and ratified the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company’s independent registered public accountants.

Ten directors stood for election to the Board of Directors and all were overwhelmingly elected. The appointment of Deloitte & Touche to serve as the company’s independent auditors for 2008 also was ratified by a wide margin.

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US Postal Service reports second quarter loss.

Posted by | May 7, 2008 | |

Despite cost-cutting measures, the U.S. Postal Service ended the second quarter with a net loss of USD 707 million, driven by a continued decline in mail volume resulting from the current national economic climate. Meanwhile, the on-time delivery of First-Class Mail continued at record levels in the second quarter.

The second quarter results were presented during today’s meeting of the Postal Service Board of Governors. For the first six months of the fiscal year, the Postal Service has essentially broken even, reporting a net loss of USD 35 million on revenue of USD 39.3 billion.

Mail volume for the quarter ending March 31 totaled 51.3 billion pieces, a 3.3 percent drop from the previous second quarter. First-Class Mail volume decreased by 3.1 percent and Standard Mail volume was down 3 percent.

Year-to-date total mail volume is down by 3.1 percent compared to the same period last year. If the trend continues, this will be only the seventh year total mail volume has decreased in the last 50 years and could be the largest decline since 2002.

Revenue was USD 18.9 billion in the second quarter, an increase of USD 584 million, or 3.2 percent, over the same period last year reflecting last year’s price adjustments, but well below expectations. Expenses in the second quarter totaled USD 19.6 billion, an increase of USD 52 million, or 0.3 percent, from the previous year. The slight increase was driven by an increase in transportation expenses, particularly fuel costs.

The Postal Service also continues to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency. For example, workhours have been reduced by more than 18 million in the first two quarters of the year compared to similar periods in 2007.

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