Mailing/Fulfillment - Postal Trends

At the end of a lengthy analysis of the prospects for postal legislation yesterday, long-time postal union leader William Burrus made a statement that could signal a change in strategy on five-day delivery: “His [President Obama’s] proposal includes five-day delivery, which is strongly opposed by the unions but the decision must be made on which fights to engage in and with whom. Do we fight the Republican efforts to destroy the Postal Service and the unions or do we fight the Obama inclusion of five-day delivery...

Burrus’ statement suggests that the prospects are slim for getting the Obama Administration to change

Transferring tens of billions of dollars in federal worker retirement accounts back to the U.S. Postal Service would not address its long-term debt problems and would force unfunded liabilities on to taxpayers, according to a new government report. The conclusions by the Government Accountability Office run counter to the opinions of postal regulators, the postal inspector general and congressional Democrats, who say Congress should refund as much as $75 billion to the Postal Service for improperly overpaying federal retirement accounts since the 1970s.

...GAO concluded otherwise, writing in its report that “We have not found evidence of error of these types

President Obama thinks beer and wine are just the thing to help the U.S. Postal Service with its financial problems. The “President’s Plan for USPS Reform” includes “acceptance of beer and wine in the mail,” according to a recent presentation by Postmaster General Pat Donahoe. Current law prohibits shipping alcoholic beverages by mail.

The beer-and-wine language is a bit mysterious: “Allow USPS to increase collaboration w/ state and local governments; e.g. non-postal products, acceptance of beer and wine in the mail.” With many states having tight controls and hefty taxes on beer and wine, it’s not clear how enabling the Postal

The U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) financial problems have, of course, been big news lately, but they should hardly be a surprise. It didn’t take a genius to see this coming; here’s what appeared in Dead Tree Edition almost two years ago:

“Although the Postal Service is on track to become insolvent within a couple of years, Congress has shown no appetite for wrestling with the problems that vex the USPS. The Postal Service’s requests to stem the financial tide—by eliminating Saturday delivery and eliminating the prepaid retiree-benefit requirement, for example—will inevitably lead to a Congressional discussion of whether postal rates should

Fed up with paying about $7.3 billion annually in health care for postal workers, retirees and dependents, Patrick R. Donahoe is pushing plans that would allow USPS to spin out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and establish a separate postal health care system.

During an interview late last week, Donahoe was clearly annoyed and angry with the Obama administration and Congress for not endorsing his plans to remove USPS from FEHBP—a massive program providing an array of options for life insurance and health, dental, vision and long term care based on a worker or retiree’s occupation, labor union

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) continued his campaign to overhaul the struggling U.S. Postal Service on Monday, stressing that his plan would help the agency control its labor costs. Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and his Republican allies have long said that labor expenditures—which account for roughly 80 percent of the agency’s expenses—are the biggest roadblock to getting USPS on firmer fiscal footing.

The California Republican reiterated at a Monday event that he believes his USPS legislation would allow the agency to shed as many as 200,000 workers in the next few years who would already

DST Output and Zumbo announced two Georgia-based utility companies, Cobb Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) and Gas South, are now delivering digital postal mail via the Zumbox digital postal system as an additional channel that their customers can opt into.

Taradel has produced more than one million direct mail pieces for the USPS Every Door Direct Mail program since March of this year. “We just knew intuitively that this program would be successful,” said Taradel CEO Jim Fitzgerald. “The Postal Service has made it easy for small business owners to use direct mail advertising.”

USPS is willing to spend more ad dollars as new market research suggests customers still feel very secure about using and receiving paper mail...The two 30-second spots are designed to remind customers that paper mail, unlike e-mail, can’t be hacked, and that letter carriers are still providing reliable and safe deliveries to doorsteps.

“A refrigerator has never been hacked,” an announcer says in the first message as an actress pins a paper bill to her fridge.

In the other ad, an announcer reminds viewers that hand-delivered messages ensure that “important letters and information don’t get lost in thin air, or

House Republicans pushing to overhaul the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service believe adding a prominent backer in the Senate gives their efforts fresh momentum. On Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced that he was introducing the Senate version of legislation that Issa and others have offered in the House. The bill would, among other things, create a new oversight board to recommend cost-cutting ideas like post office closures, and supporters say it would help tame the agency’s significant labor costs.

Art Sackler, coordinator of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, said the new Senate bill may work to push lawmakers