Tag: USA

US lawmaker to introduce ‘anti-junk mail’ bill

Posted by | Feb 14, 2007 | |

US lawmakers will consider a bill aimed at putting an end to unwanted junk mail.

Representative Sara Gagliardi is expected to introduce a bill that would create a “no junk mail list.”

She talked about her proposal Sunday afternoon on the steps of the Capitol. Under the measure, consumers could opt out of receiving junk mail.

If companies send mail to a person on the list, they would be fined.

Supporters say a junk mail ban would cut down on identity theft, possible fraud and help the environment.

“Junk mail makes it easy for criminals to steal our identity, money and our most private information,” said Gagliardi (D)-Arvada. “Most of all, junk mail is annoying.”

Others are worried about the economic impact.

“We have thousands of organizations in Colorado that effectively use the mail to advertise to their constituents, to their customers to promote and make their business viable,” said Al DeSarro, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

DeSarro says 50 percent of the mail they handle is direct marketing mail. If that is cut in half, the 11,000 postal employees in Colorado would be affected.

“This would be a devastating bill for the Postal Service,” said DeSarro.

If the measure passes, companies that violate the “no junk mail list” would face a USD500 fine per offense – similar to the penalty for those who violate the “no call list.”

Colorado is one of six states considering similar anti-junk mail proposals.

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Epps Retires as President of The UPS Foundation. Lisa Hamilton named successor

Posted by | Feb 14, 2007 | |

UPS announced the appointment of Lisa Hamilton, a Public Affairs manager in Washington, D.C., as the next president of The UPS Foundation, succeeding the retiring Evern Cooper Epps.

Hamilton will take the reins of The UPS Foundation in March. A native of Atlanta, she earned a BS degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan. She has been with UPS for 10 years and before her current post, served as The UPS Foundation’s program director.

Founded in 1951 and based in Atlanta, The UPS Foundation donates more than USD 45 million annually to charitable organizations worldwide. The UPS Foundation’s major initiatives include programs that support global volunteerism, literacy programs and hunger relief. In recent years, the company has focused on expanding its philanthropy and volunteer programs outside the United States in tandem with the company’s business expansion.

Epps, a native of Detroit, joined UPS 32 years ago and has served as president of The UPS Foundation since 1998. Only the fourth president in the Foundation’s 55-year history, she has guided the organization through a period of significant growth and change.

During her tenure, The UPS Foundation focused its giving into three primary areas: volunteerism, hunger and literacy.

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USPS launches intelligent mail

Posted by | Feb 14, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service launched a new, proprietary service that will allow businesses to track mail and speed service to customers. Called “Intelligent Mail,” it’s like having a global positioning system (GPS) for mail, says Postmaster General John Potter, noting that the technology’s centerpiece is a standardized barcode for use on letters and large envelopes as well as each mail container.

Intelligent Mail is being tested by three companies and is expected to be fully operational by 2009. One large mailer improved its “scan rate” (automated reading) to 99%, ensuring 140,000 pieces a day were processed by postal equipment instead of manually.

The agency said the system also provides real-time data to improve service measurement, enabling the Postal Service to pinpoint problems immediately. The USPS won a 2004 PIA/GATF InterTech Technology Award for its barcode-scanning Confirm Service, a mail-tracking program that has allowed many printers offering fulfillment to quantify proof of mailing. www.usps.com, www.gain.net

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Postal Service seeks Bank of America NSA

Posted by | Feb 13, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service has filed a negotiated service agreement request for Bank of America with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the first NSA request based purely on cost savings rather than requiring a volume threshold for the incentives. NSAs are special service and rate arrangements between the USPS and a mailer or group of mailers. Proponents say NSAs encourage greater volume by rewarding postal customers with discounts and premium services.

“We intend for this NSA to produce cost savings for both the postal service and Bank of America,” said Mike Plunkett, USPS acting vice president for pricing and classification.

The Feb. 7 filing said this NSA aims to provide incentives that will encourage an individual mailer to engage in voluntary changes in mail preparation that will reduce the costs to the postal service of handling the mailer’s mail.

The NSA would encourage Bank of America, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, to undertake certain activities to reduce the cost to the USPS of processing its First Class and Standard mail, including mail that is entered into the mail stream by or on behalf of a Bank of America subsidiary or affiliate.

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Pitney Bowes’ Group 1 Software introduces Address Quality Hub™ for U.S. businesses

Posted by | Feb 13, 2007 | |

Group 1 Software, Inc., a Pitney Bowes Company, today announced the launch of the Address Quality Hub™, a new address cleansing software platform that improves mail deliverability and maximizes postal discounts for users of CODE-1 Plus® and Finalist® CASS™ software.

The new platform is beneficial for all businesses that utilize the mailstream for customer communication, as they face increases in postage costs in August 2007 when the U.S. Postal Service® implements more stringent postage discount rules designed to reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail.

The Address Quality Hub from Group 1 Software enables mailers to address this issue in two ways. First, the Address Quality Hub’s Coding Uplift Module employs advanced algorithms and programming logic to enable existing CODE-1 Plus and Finalist CASS solutions to cleanse and code up to 35 percent of address records that would have previously been rejected during CASS processing – resulting in higher postal discounts and a reduction in UAA mail.

Second, the Address Quality Hub’s Delivery Point Correction Module provides the industry’s first solution to correct the primary house number required for automation discounts by automatically matching name against street address, and correcting bad addresses. This patent-pending address correction and validation technology allows mailers to verify that U.S. street addresses actually exist and are truly confirmed delivery points for mailing, enabling mailers to reduce UAA mail and maximize postal savings, while meeting the new USPS CASS requirement.

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