After a 24-year career with the U.S. Postal Service, Deputy Postmaster General John M. Nolan will retire in May. The DPMG is a member of the Board of Governors and serves on its Capital Projects Committee. Nolan became DPMG in February 2000. He resumed his postal career after working 11 years as a director of a private-sector print and mail business.
Read MoreAmerican Airlines and US Airways hope to quickly resolve their differences with the U.S. Postal Service and return to hauling domestic mail. Citing poor service, the Postal Service this month stopped using the two airlines to carry domestic mail until service improved, USPS spokesman Jim Quirk said. Click to Enlarge At least one of the carriers is conferring with Postal Service officials daily about a program to improve its service, an industry source said. Under contracts awarded to the airlines in 2003, the Postal Service imposed strict on-time standards, which are monitored by a tracking system. Failure to meet those standards for any route could result in the airline losing business to competitors. In addition to American and US Airways, 16 other companies were awarded contracts.
Read MoreThe US Postal Service released F1Q:05 (quarter ending December 31) results which include a look at preliminary Priority Mail, Express Mail, and Parcel Post statistics. Generally Parcel Post and to some degree Priority Mail
competes with UPS, FDX, and DHL’s ground parcel products. Express Mail competes with UPS, FDX, and DHL’s overnight air products. For the seventh quarter in a row, a y-o-y volume decline occurred within the USPS’ Parcel Post product which recorded a decline of 1.2% during F1Q:05. Comparably, UPS and FDX domestic ground products have grown y-o-y volume in the most recent quarters by 1.5% and 16.4%, respectively. Priority Mail volumes increased for the second quarter in a row by 2.4% year-over-year in F1Q:05. Similarly, Express Mail volumes were also positive, posting 0.6% year-over-year growth in the current quarter. This is the first time Express Mail volumes have improved on a year-over-year basis in the last fifteen consecutive quarters.
The nine-member US Postal Service board has directed post-office management to prepare a rate-case request. The rate hike aims to cover USD3.1bn a year in escrow requirements. A price hike can take at least 10 months before it is enforced since the federal Postal Rate Commission would still have to review it. Large mailers, the general public and rivals can also question the request. Large mailers believe that the Postal Service will file its request this spring so that the new rates would be implemented by next year.
Read MoreThe US Postal Service says it has suspended American Airlines’ contract to deliver domestic mail after the airline failed to meet performance measures – a decision that could cost the carrier millions. For consumers, mail delivery won’t be affected, postal officials say. But the decision could cost the airline tens of millions of dollars this year, at a time when Fort Worth-based American is already struggling with high fuel prices and intense competition that has driven down airfares. American executives, however, dispute the postal service’s assertion. They say the contract remains in force, although they acknowledge that the airline is in talks with the post office regarding future mail delivery. “We’re having a conversation about the nature of our relationship,” said Tim Wagner, an airline spokesman. “But our contractual relationship with the postal service has not changed.” Wagner also noted that American’s international mail delivery business remains unaffected.
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