Tag: North America

US Postal Service site lets anyone hold your mail

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

Wednesday night on Off The Hook, a radio show on WBAI in New York, Emmanuel Goldstein and the guys from 2600 discussed a feature on the Web site of the U.S. Postal Service that can only be described as ill-conceived.

If you’re going to be away from home for a while, the your local post office can hold your mail to avoid an overflowing mailbox. Fine.

In the old days (and you can still do this), you went to the office and filled out a form (PDF). Someone on the show who has done this said the Postal Service doesn’t validate the identity of the person who requests mail to be held. It validates only the identity of the person who comes to pick up the mail.

Government techies copied this manual system to the Internet.

You can go to https://holdmail.usps.com (or click on Hold Mail at the Postal Service home page, as shown below) and put a hold on mail delivery. Notice that I didn’t say put a hold on your mail delivery. You can put a hold on mail delivered to anyone. This is true with the traditional system, too, but the Internet makes it worse, adding more anonymity and making the process easier. Too easy.

The agency site claims that it needs a name, address, and phone number to stop mail delivery. When tested, however, this turns out not to be the case. Requests with wrong names and wrong phone numbers were accepted, according to a listener who wrote in to the show. All you really need to know is an address.

And with the address, you can stop all mail delivery, not just mail to one person. Quoting from the Frequently Asked Questions: “All mail, regardless of name, will be held for the address entered. Submitting an online Hold Mail request once is all that is required to hold mail delivery for everyone at the address.”

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US Postal Service extends IT services contract with Nortel Government Solutions

Posted by | Mar 20, 2008 | |

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stop the U.S. Postal Service. To help keep it that way, the agency has awarded a one-year, estimated USD 6 million IT services contract extension to Nortel Government Solutions.

This extension for services to support the PostalOne! automated mail handling system follows a one-year, USD 9.6 million extension in 2006. Nortel Government Solutions is a U.S. company wholly owned by Nortel.

The PostalOne! system helps integrate and optimize business mail handling, which is a nearly USD 40 billion annual business for USPS. It also provides financial management data, as well as online access to tracking and status information for both USPS and its business customers.

“We’re continuing to work with the Postal Service not only to keep PostalOne! running efficiently, but also to provide new applications and enhancements designed to help raise the level of customer service,” said Chuck Saffell, chief executive officer, Nortel Government Solutions.

Nortel Government Solutions provides software design, secure data management and integration of the PostalOne! system with legacy USPS systems and third-party applications. This includes development and enhancement of mail processing support applications to handle an estimated two million new addresses each year.

Nortel Government Solutions has provided systems and application development, engineering and network administration services for USPS since 1993.

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Postal Service to remove stamp machines across the country

Posted by | Mar 19, 2008 | |

If you’re wondering what happened to those vending machines that spit out postage stamps at the post office, they’ve been returned to sender.

The U.S. Postal Service has permanently removed the machines from post offices all across the country, including those in the Charleston area.

Customers wanting to avoid standing in line for stamps at the counter could simply feed coins or dollar bills into a machine to buy postage.

Despite their convenience, the postal service did away with them for several reasons, said David Walton, a spokesman for the West Virginia district.

“The machines are obsolete,” Walton said. “They don’t make parts for them anymore, so when they break down, it’s difficult to repair them.”

The stamp machines, which first appeared in the 1970s, broke down quite often, he said.

They also accepted only cash and coins, a problem for many folks who prefer using a debit or credit card for transactions.

Walton said it wouldn’t have been economically feasible to upgrade the machines to allow card use.

Vending machine stamp sales have also declined in recent years, as customers tend to purchase their stamps by other means, Walton added.

Some machines throughout the country averaged only two or three customers a month, he said.

“Overall, they were not generating much business,” Walton said. “There are so many other ways to buy stamps today, and more people are now paying their bills online, using e-mail, phone and fax.”

Stamps are still widely available at some ATM machines, retail stores and online at www.usps.com. Customers can even have their postal carriers drop off stamps at their doors.

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Express gifts for Easter delivery

Posted by | Mar 19, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is ready to help family and friends separated by distance this Easter season. Gifts can be sent as late as Saturday, March 22, for delivery on Easter Sunday by the Postal Service, the only shipping service that delivers on Sundays. Express Mail, the Postal Service’s premier package service, provides overnight delivery to most destinations nationwide at prices lower than other carriers provide and includes a money-back guarantee, tracking, proof of delivery, and insurance, all at no additional cost.

Unlike the expedited services offered by other companies, Express Mail has no hidden surcharges. Other commercial carriers have increased their rates for 2008 and have surcharges for residential delivery and fuel costs that are often higher than the base price of shipping. Express Mail has just one fixed price to most destinations in the United States.

Customers can even send Express Mail without leaving their homes. By visiting usps.com, customers can print shipping labels and postage for Express Mail and schedule a postal carrier to pick packages up through Carrier Pickup or Pickup on Demand services. Customers can also use usps.com to look up ZIP Codes and find nearby USPS Express Mail collection boxes or Post Offices.

USPS Express Mail includes, at no additional cost, insurance up to USD 100 against loss or damage, proof of delivery, tracking information, and free ecologically friendly packaging.

The Postal Service also offers another value, Priority Mail, with nationwide delivery in two or three days. Customers may choose any of three different flat-rate Priority Mail boxes that will hold a variety of candy and possibly a stuffed bunny.

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DHL honored with

Posted by | Mar 18, 2008 | |

DHL today announced it has received the “Chairman’s Above and Beyond Award” from Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). The Ohio Committee of the EGSR annually recognizes those individuals and organizations that demonstrate outstanding service to the nation’s defense through continuing support of the National Guard and Reserve service members and their employers.

An employee based in Ohio nominated DHL for the Award due to the support he received over the years as a reservist. The nomination was reviewed for higher consideration of DHL’s overall support for military duty of its employees in the State of Ohio. DHL was awarded for going “above and beyond” the legal requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) over the past year for granting leave and providing support for military duty by its employees.

The “Chairman’s Above and Beyond Award” is awarded at the State Committee level, and is approved by the Committee Chair. The “Chairman’s Above and Beyond Award” is given to honor the Employers of Reserve Component members who have gone above and beyond the requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). ESGR’s goal is to support America’s employers who share their employees with the Department of Defense to ensure our National security.

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