POSTAL NEWS
No. 79/2012
Formulated by UNI-Japan Post in cooperation with UNI-Apro,
ASPEK Indonesia and SPPI
1. Postal Service's Newest Idea To Save Itself From Collapse: More Junk Mail .
Sep 20,2012.
2. Postal Service Budget Woes Mean More Junk Mail. Sept 28, 2012.
3. Asian Postal Sector Shifts To e-Commerce in "A Big Way". Sept 25, 2012.
4. U.S. Postal Service Makes It Easier To Recycle Your Old Electronics For
Cash At 3,000+ Locations. Sept 25, 2012.
5. New York Magazine Tries Manhattan Hand-Delivery to Counter Postal
Cutbacks. Sep 26, 2012.
6. Postal Service Set To Default On More Than $5 Billion Payment For Second
Time Since August. Sept 27, 2012.
1. Postal Service's Newest Idea To Save Itself From Collapse: More Junk Mail
The Huffington Post | By Harry Bradford Posted: 09/20/2012 2:46 pm EDT Updated:
09/20/2012 3:20 pm EDT
Follow: Video, Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General, U.S. Treasury, United States Postal
Service, Junk Mail, Postal Service Cuts, Postal Service Default, Postal Service Junk Mail, Usps,
Business News Imagine a world without junk mail. Now stop, because the one real one is about
to have a lot more of it.
The United States Postal Service is cutting new deals with businesses and marketers in an effort
to boost its junk mail, or standard mail business as it's more nicely known, The New York Times
reports. With the postal service losing billions this year, the hope is that more junk mail will
equal more revenue, building on the $17 billion its direct mail delivery service pulled in last
year.
While postmaster general Patrick Donahoe defends standard mail as “the best way to reach your
customer,” not everybody is thrilled. Junk mail already accounts for 48 percent of total mail
volume, with first-class mail comprising less and less of the total, The Wall Street Journal
reported last year, and the idea of even more has some perturbed.
“One of the biggest complaints that we get... is about the amount of junk mail clogging up their
mailboxes,” Ed Gilbert, a solid waste manager in Brookline, Massachusetts, told The New York
Times.
Just last month, the Postal Service proposed allowing Valassis Communications, a marketing
company, the ability to send junk mail at discounted rates, a move that would hurt the newspaper
industry but help the U.S. Postal Service to the tune of an estimated extra $15 million in profits
over the course of three years, according to The Detroit News.
This likely won't be the idea that saves the U.S. Postal Service though. A few more parcels of
recycled paper in everyone’s mailbox isn’t likely to make up for the estimated $25 million the
agency loses daily, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Several plants have already
been shuttered, with many other Post Offices around the country implementing service cuts to
save on costs.
One Post Office in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, for example, has cut operating hours to just 30
minutes a day. That hasn't been enough either. The government agency defaulted on a $5.5
billion retiree benefit payment in August.
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2. Postal Service Budget Woes Mean More Junk Mail
Joe Raedle/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- That mailbox-filling heap of junk mail is set to pile a
little higher next year as the U.S. Postal Service turns to America's least-loved type of mail in an
attempt to solve its massive budget woes.
Last month the Postal Service's regulatory body green-lighted a deal with the direct mail
advertising group Valassis giving them a 30 percent to 45 percent discount on any additional
standard mail, aka junk mail, sent for the next three years.
For the Postal Service, the deal could mean an additional $4.7 million to $15 million in new
revenue, according to the Postal Regulatory Commission. For consumers, it means another
coupon-filled catalog in their mailboxes starting in early 2013, Valassis spokeswoman Cindy
Hopman said in an email.
The Postal Service is in dire financial straits, hemorrhaging more than $5 billion last quarter and
on track to default on another $5.6 billion benefits payment this month. It has already cut post
offices, jobs and hours.
"Advertising mail is a critically important part of the economic engine that funds USPS
services," USPS spokeswoman Darlene S. Casey said in an email. "The postage paid on letters,
checks and bills (First Class Mail) is no longer enough by itself to fund the universal mail service
Americans enjoy today."
The 83.5 billion coupons, catalogues and credit card offers that advertisers sent through standard
mail brought in $17 billion in revenue for the Postal Service in 2010. The average household
received 9.6 pieces of that advertising mail each week, 20 percent of which they tossed in the
trash without ever opening, according to the Postal Service.
That discarded junk mail added up to 4.3 million tons of trash, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency. But, as Casey pointed out, those direct mailers made up a mere 2.4 percent of
the 254 million tons of municipal trash created that year.
Beyond potentially adding to wastepaper piles, the Postal Service's push for more junk mail is
striking a foul chord with the newspaper industry, which claims the deal with Valassis puts
newspaper ad sales at risk.
In an attempt to shore up it's already $11.6 billion budget shortfall this year, the Postal Service
has closed 500 post offices, cut operating hours another 13,000, and bumped 9,000 employees
down to part time with no benefits.
Nevertheless, low cash flow caused USPS to default on a $5.5 billion payment to pre-fund health
benefits for future retirees. It is set to default on a second $5.6 billion payment Sept. 30.
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal points out, the $15 million that the direct mail deal could bring
in represents one-thousandth of the budget deficit the Postal Service is facing this year.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio
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September 25, 2012 16:31 PM
3. Asian Postal Sector Shifts To e-Commerce in "A Big Way"
DOHA, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- The postal sector in Asia has shifted its focus to e-commerce from
traditional mail to keep up with the rapid changes that digital technology is bringing to the world,
POS Malaysia Group Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shukrie Salleh said here Monday.
In an interviews with Qatar News Agency (QNA) he said that Asia was now focusing on ecommerce business in a big way.
However, the postal sector in this region is now delivering parcels and as such he did not think
that this could be replaced by digital form, he said after the opening plenary session of the threeweek 25th Universal Postal Congress at the Qatar National Convention Centre, here.
Stressing on the need to innovate, Shukrie said, "Although postal services in Asia are still
profitable, we have to take into consideration that users dependence on conventional mail is
reducing so it is imperative that we diversify the business."
"Looking into the future of e-commerce in mail service, we have to be prepared to face any new
development or changes," he said, adding that many postal services are looking forward to
integrating "physical and digital postal services."
"We are currently building the infrastructure of this idea. Eventually, when the e-commerce
expands we have to ensure we too are growing with it."
Meanwhile, POS Malaysia Group, International Business and Regulatory Management Head,
Chum Choy Han told QNA that the postal service world was a dynamic one that was constantly
evolving and thus "we need to keep pace with it by introducing new strategies into the market to
counter emerging business challenges."
"We are all looking at how to be a part of this whole new strategy because we reckon that the
world is changing so rapidly, so these challenges call for new solutions and these solutions, in
turn call for different strategies," said Chum who is visiting Qatar for the first time.
Touching on how the Internet and e-mail have challenged regular postal mail, she said that the
postal service is still widely needed as they could not be replaced particularly when delivering
bulky items.
Over the next three week, the congress will discuss new ideas and strategies to keep postal
services afloat worldwide.
 BERNAMA
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4. U.S. Postal Service Makes It Easier To Recycle Your Old Electronics For Cash At
3,000+ Locations [Updates]
September 25, 2012
By Saikat Basu
Going green just got easier thanks to the initiatives of the U.S. Postal Service. If you have old
cellphones, PDAs, digital cameras or any other electronic devices lying around and gathering
dust, don’t just toss them out. Give USPS a chance to reclaim them back for a greener tomorrow.
USPS is working with MaxBack, an electronics recycling company, as a partner in an effort to
reduce the problem of e-waste and landfills. USPS has now made the recycling program
available at 3100 retail locations across the United States. For customers it is a double-headed
benefit as they can now reduce the electronic clutter around the house and also earn some cash
by depositing their junk at these locations.
Gary Reblin, vice president of Domestic Products said:
“The U.S. Postal Service is making recycling your old cell phone quicker and easier than ever
before. We’ve expanded this recycling program to offer more consumers the opportunity to
protect the environment and put some money in their pocket at the same time and with USPS, the
shipping is free.”
You can visit the Recycle Through USPS page on the USPS.com website and follow the four
easy steps to find out how much your old cell phone is worth and to see if your items qualify for
instant cash. Even if your device does not qualify for a buyback, you can use the free mail-back
recycling envelopes at the locations to ship and dispose of the waste electronics.
Do you know of similar recycling schemes in other countries? If so, let us know!
Source: USPS
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5. New York Magazine Tries Manhattan Hand-Delivery to Counter Postal Cutbacks
Magazines Continue Exploring Remedies to Postal Problems
By: Nat Ives Published: September 26, 2012
New York magazine is trying to remedy rising postal costs and slower postal deliveries by
distributing many subscriber copies by hand -- at least for Manhattan subscribers with doormen.
After a test than began in May, sparked by concerns that post-office cutbacks would only
continue to worsen, New York is now rolling out hand delivery to doorman buildings and
commercial addresses in Manhattan. "Hand delivery means you'll get New York on Monday
mornings -- earlier than is possible by U.S. Mail," New York explained in a letter to some
subscribers.
The cost is competitive with the post office or cheaper, a New York spokeswoman said in an
email. "It also gives us experience in this arena, in preparation for future USPS changes that may
be more onerous."
Once the rollout is complete, New York will be hand-delivering nearly 60,000 subscriber and
complimentary copies to Manhattan addresses, the spokeswoman said, calling that about 60% of
the magazine's file in Manhattan.
Hand delivery, of course, will only partly address the problems created by reduced postal
services and higher postage fees. New York magazine averaged paid and verified circulation of
405,149 in the first half of the year, the majority outside Manhattan, according to its report with
the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Another weekly, Bloomberg Businessweek, has been using newspaper carriers to deliver many
subscriber copies in major urban markets.
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6. Postal Service Set To Default On More Than $5 Billion Payment For Second Time
Since August
The Huffington Post | By Harry Bradford Posted: 09/27/2012 10:12 am EDT Updated:
09/27/2012 10:37 am EDT
The U.S. Postal Service may be able to deliver your bill payments, but it's having a little trouble
delivering its own.
Come Sept. 30, USPS will default on a $5.6 billion payment mandated by Congress to prefund
employee retirement benefits, CNNMoney reports. That will be the second time the government
agency has defaulted in as many months after missing an August payment worth $5.5 billion.
While mail operations will continue as usual, the second default is yet another sign of the postal
service's increasingly desperate financial situation. By May of this year it had already lost $6
billion.
Getting USPS out this mess won’t be easy, either. Its best hope would be for Congress to repeal a
2006 mandate that USPS prefund retiree benefits, a law for which National Association of Letter
Carriers President Fredric Rolando, among others, blames the current crisis, according to the
Washington Post. However, Congress isn’t likely to act until after the November elections and
might not get around to it until the new year, the National Journal reports.
In the meantime, several efforts are being made to ease the postal service's woes. Most recently,
USPS announced it would be increasing its volume of junk mail deliveries in an effort to build
upon the $17 billion in revenue that portion of its business took in last year.
Service cuts, too, have been common. In May, USPS announced is would be closing 250
processing centers in order to cut costs. Post offices across the country have also reduced hours.
In one extreme example, the post office in Sugar Creek, N.H., cut hours of operation to just 30
minutes a day.
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POSTAL NEWS
No. 80/2012
Formulated by UNI-Japan Post in cooperation with UNI-Apro,
ASPEK Indonesia and SPPI
Postal Service regulator questions cost-saving plan. Sept 28, 2012.
Museum acquires historic post office. Sept 30, 2012.
When will it deliver? Congress must take up Postal Service issues. Sept 30, 2012.
Postal Service defaults on $5.6B retiree pre-payment. Sept 1, 2012.
Postal Service privatization: New York magazine takes delivery into its own hands. Oct
2, 2012.
UN urges increase in role of financial services across global postal sector. Oct 2, 2012.
Post Office's Retiree Health Benefits Hole Gets Deeper. Oct 2, 2012.
1. Postal Service regulator questions cost-saving plan
Reuters – Fri, Sep 28, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Postal Service's regulator on Friday questioned the potential
savings from a plan to shut mail processing sites and slow mail delivery, saying the mail agency
could save about the same amount without making major changes to delivery times.
The Postal Service plans to close nearly half its mail processing sites over the next few years,
part of its response to tumbling mail volumes as Americans use email more.
But postal officials' assumption that the best response to lower volume was to slow delivery
caused it to overlook other cost-cutting options, the Postal Regulatory Commission said in a nonbinding opinion.
"The commission's range of potential net savings estimates is lower than that projected by the
Postal Service," according to the advisory opinion.
"The vast majority of mail processing savings that the Postal Service expects to attain can be
captured without significantly changing service," the PRC said.
The critique is the latest backlash to the Postal Service's cost-cutting ideas. Lawmakers from
rural communities, as well as big mailers, have pushed back against plans to close facilities. A
Postal Service plan to close thousands of post offices was derailed earlier this year.
The Postal Service says it no longer handles enough mail to justify its current number of
facilities and workers.
In May, the mail agency said it would consolidate 140 of its 461 processing sites by February
2013, with more to follow. The plan involved shrinking the area where customers can expect
mail to be delivered the next day, with the eventual expectation that delivery would slow further.
The PRC opinion said that at most, that plan would save about $2 billion, slightly less than the
Postal Service has projected. But if the move depleted mail volumes by driving advertisers and
other mailers online, savings would be much lower, the PRC said.
It also said the Postal Service focused on moving processing from small plants to large ones, but
the PRC found that it could save more by looking at productivity rather than size.
Using a model that would close the less productive sites first, the PRC said the USPS could save
about $1.8 billion with minimal revenue loss and fewer changes to delivery times.
The Postal Service said when it announced the plan that its second phase of closings and service
changes would begin in early 2014. The PRC recommended the USPS use that time to study the
initial changes and consider other cost-cutting options.
A Postal Service spokeswoman said the agency is reviewing the advisory opinion.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Gary Hill)
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Sunday, Sep. 30, 2012
2. Museum acquires historic post office
Building dates back to 1826
By John Anderson
This 1826 structure served as one of the first post offices in Union County from 1826 to 1850.
The Sweet Home Post Office recently moved from the corner of Potter and New Town Roads to
the Museum of the Waxhaws, where it will become part of the growing exhibit depicting village
life in the region in the early 19th century.
Some of you may have been surprised to find an old log building moving slowly down the
country roads toward the Museum of the Waxhaws’ back on Sept. 15.
The museum board hopes you weren’t terribly inconvenienced.
You can take some comfort in the thought that you witnessed one more chapter in the history of
a building that started a long time ago.
How long ago? Records from U.S. Postal archives and local knowledge confirm that the building
at the corner of Potter and New Town Road was one of the first official Post Offices in Union
County. It was established there in 1826 and was known as the Ingramsville Post Office.
In 1830, the name was changed to Sweet Home. It remained in service there until 1850, when the
postal service moved to the Winchester Home, a mile south on Potter Road.
Bill Howie wrote this in his book, “Our Tracks In Time – A Brief History of Mineral Springs,
North Carolina”: “Mail was delivered to this office by stagecoach from Charlotte in the North
and Camden from the south along the Potter Road.”
During that era, mail was the primary form of communication with the outside world – before
the telegraph and even newspapers.
Howie offers this anecdote:
“In the early years, the amount of postage was set by the distance traveled and paid by the
recipient instead of the sender. A letter mailed in 1841 from Charly Helms to Israel Helms was
on the road for 25 days and cost Israel ten cents.”
When the role of the building changed, it became a residence for the next 100-plus years, and the
original logs were covered with sawn lumber.
The Museum of the Waxhaws has been working for a number of years to acquire the building
and move it to the museum property. The plan is to restore the building as a post office and use it
as part of a historic village street.
The Rowell family donated the Sweet Home Post Office building to the museum. The museum
plans to interview three family members, now in their 90s, who were raised in the house early in
the 20th century, and present their videotaped recollections as part of a continuing exhibit.
The Sweet Home Post Office building isn’t much to look right now. Prior to the move, the
original building stood 1 1/2 stories and featured a tin roof and a covered front porch, which
were removed to transport the core structure.
The next phase of this project involves restoring the building to its original condition and then
preparing an informational display. The Museum of the Waxhaws plans several fundraising
events to help finance the restoration, including an Autumn Tea on Oct. 20, a Fall Festival on the
Oct. 27 and a Country Christmas Dinner at the Mott Estate on Dec. 1.
More details on those events will be available in future editions of Union News, on the
museum’s website www.museumofthewaxhaws.com and on Museum of the Waxhaws Facebook
page.
The museum will be seeking additional help from volunteers with construction, carpentry and
funds. If you wish to help, contact mwaxhaw@museumofthewaxhaws.com.
The Sweet Home Post Office will join the 19th Century Farmstead and Smokehouse to provide a
venue where students and visitors can experience firsthand what life was like in Union County
nearly two centuries ago.
John Anderson is a freelance writer for. Have a story idea for John? Email him at
jafortrel@aol.com.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/30/3563118/museum-acquireshistoric-post.html#storylink=cpy
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3. When will it deliver? Congress must take up Postal Service issues
Published: Sunday, September 30, 2012, 1:00 AM Updated: Sunday, September 30, 2012,
1:01 AM
The U.S. Postal Service is scheduled to default today on a $5.5 billion loan obligation.
It will be the second multibillion-dollar payment the Postal Service has missed in as many
months.
Postal Service officials might want their carriers to hand deliver letters to members of Congress
about it.
After all, they skipped town to campaign for re-election without taking action to help the national
mail delivery service. It is not the only issue left on the table as our elected officials left
Washington.
There is the stalled Farm Bill, a need to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law and the oft-quoted
“fiscal cliff,” which includes a series of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to happen on
Jan. 1 unless there is action.
But the Postal Service might have been the least thorny issue to tackle and legislation to provide
it assistance was halfway completed.
The Senate passed one Postal Service reform bill in May.
In all, the Postal Service wants the ability to eliminate Saturday mail delivery and reduce its $5
billion annual payment for future retiree health benefits.
It also wants to close underused post offices and shut mail-sorting centers that are no longer
needed.
But the U.S. House chose not to act on any measure, even though the future of mail service rests
entirely in its hands at this point.
Postal Service officials say they have slashed everything that can be cut under their power,
anything else can come only with Congress’ approval.
When Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was asked by The Associated Press where the Postal
Service would be right now had Congress acted he said “absolutely, we would be profitable right
now.”
Instead, the Postal Service losses are expected to reach a record $15 billion this year.
House Republican leaders said they are waiting for the Postal Service to give a date for when it
will no longer be able to pay its bills.
This reasoning makes no sense.
As if knowing the date of its death is more important than noticing that it is hemorrhaging now.
As with the other controversial issues, the reason that nothing happened with the Postal Service
is simple politics.
No one wanted the difficult job of going home and telling constituents their post office would be
closed or that they would no longer receive mail each weekend.
Although we are against lame-duck sessions, when votes are cast by elected officials who are
leaving office, there are so many issues left on the table it is necessary.
Congress must act on Postal Service reforms and not allow this issue to extend into 2013. The
Postal Service gets no federal appropriations but must rely on our elected officials to act for its
survival.
Congress let down everyone with its inaction.
It must make the Postal Service a priority when it returns in November — along with other top
issues — before we get to the point that our mail delivery system is in jeopardy.
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4. Postal Service defaults on $5.6B retiree pre-payment
5:13PM EST October 1. 2012 –
Because of congressional inaction, the U.S. Postal Service today defaulted on a $5.6 billion prepayment for future retiree health benefits, the second such default in two months.
The Postal Service missed a $5.5 billion payment in August, bringing the missed pre-payments
to $11.1 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sunday. Overall, the postal service expected a $15
billion deficit for last year, and a projected shortfall of $238 billion over the next 10 years.
Congress mandated the early funding in 2006. No other government agency or private business
is required to make such over-payments.
Despite the defaults, "customers can be confident in the continued regular operations,"
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.
"We will continue to deliver the mail and pay our employees and suppliers. Postal Service
retirees and employees will also continue to receive their health benefits," Donahone said, noting
that current retirees' health care is paid from the agency's general operating budget.
"Comprehensive reform of the laws governing the Postal Service is urgently needed in order for
the Postal Service to fully implement its five-year business plan and return to long-term financial
stability," Donahoe said.
Facing declining mail volume, the Postal Service has proposed several sweeping measures to
reduce losses, including ending Saturday delivery, closing mail handling centers, reducing
staffing, cutting local post office hours and starting new shipping services to compete with UPS
and Fedex.
The Senate has passed legislation to restructure the Postal Service that would allow it to tap into
its retiree overpayments, allow some proposed changes, but not eliminate Saturday delivery.
(Read a summary.) The House has declined to act on similar bills. Congress recessed last month
until after the November election.
A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., would not comment last week
on whether the lame-duck session would take up postal-restructuring, says the Federal Times,
published by Gannett, USDA TODAY's parent.
In reporting today's default, Government Executive writes, "Congress has punted on the question
of a solution until after the election. Expect Congress to fight Postal Service efforts to put ending
Saturday delivery on the table as well as closing many rural post offices." The four postal unions
are also challenging proposals to shutter processing centers or reduce post office hours, and to
end no-layoff guarantees in future contracts.
Before the August default, one of the unions, the National Association of Letter Carriers, noted
in a press release that the Postal Service "already has $45 billion set aside for future retiree health
benefits – more than any other organization in America – and yet Congress wants to drain still
more from the USPS."
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5. Postal Service privatization: New York magazine takes delivery into its own hands
Posted by Allen McDuffee on October 2, 2012 at 11:56 am
News this week that the U.S. Postal Service has defaulted on a second $5.6 billion benefits
payment — the second miss in two months — is sure to reawaken a debate among think tanks
such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation that USPS should be privatized.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has blamed Congress for not taking action on the proposals
USPS has put forth over the past year, as they recess until after the November elections, saying,
“Absolutely, we would be profitable right now.”
New York magazine, thanks to increased postage costs with declining service, has decided to
experiment with its own kind of delivery privatization: door-to-door delivery by hand in
Manhattan.
After a test than began in May, sparked by concerns that post-office cutbacks would only
continue to worsen, New York is now rolling out hand delivery to doorman buildings and
commercial addresses in Manhattan. “Hand delivery means you’ll get New York on Monday
mornings — earlier than is possible by U.S. Mail,” New York explained in a letter to some
subscribers.
The cost is competitive with the post office or cheaper, a New York spokeswoman said in an
e-mail. “It also gives us experience in this arena, in preparation for future USPS changes that
may be more onerous.”
Once the rollout is complete, New York will be hand-delivering nearly 60,000 subscriber and
complimentary copies to Manhattan addresses, the spokeswoman said, calling that about 60% of
the magazine’s file in Manhattan.
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6. UN urges increase in role of financial services across global postal sector
[Delegates attend the 25th Universal Postal Congress in Doha, Qatar. Photo: UPU]
2 October 2012 – The global postal sector should increase its financial services in an effort to
reach millions of unbanked people, help grow small and medium-sized businesses and reduce
poverty overall, according to a study released today by the United Nations global post agency.
In a news release presenting the report, Global Panorama on Postal Financial Inclusion: Business
Models and Key Issues, the UN Universal Postal Union (UPU) described financial services as “a
key lever in advancing the inclusion of unbanked populations into the formal financial system,”
noting that already one billion people worldwide were benefiting from financial inclusion via
their local postal services.
“The postal network offers tremendous potential for fostering financial inclusion,” one of the
authors of the UPU report, Alexandre Berthaud, said in the news release.
The report’s release comes as more than 2,000 delegates gather in Doha, Qatar, for the 25th
Universal Postal Congress to examine the challenges that have arisen for the global postal sector
and how to strengthen its services worldwide.
The three-week meeting brings together postal leaders and stakeholders from the UPU’s 192
member countries to decide on the global postal sector’s future, including proposals to modify
the rules and regulations governing the exchange of international mail, as well as
recommendations on the way forward in areas such as quality of service, postal security, ecommerce and trade facilitation, and postal financial services.
Emphasizing the role financial services can play in advancing the anti-poverty targets known as
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr. Berthaud acknowledged that although one
billion people worldwide already avail themselves of postal banking services – adding up to
some $1.6 billion in savings and deposit accounts – more intensive efforts were necessary to
increase the number of account holders.
In addition, the UPU Congress adopted a resolution last week urging member countries to
continue developing financial services and recognizing the importance of such services in
reducing global poverty. Moreover, during the most recent financial crisis, numerous postal
services offering financial services saw an increase in the number of customers and accounts.
The report also details five categories of business models available to postal services seeking to
adopt financial services, ranging from cash merchant for government and financial services
providers to having fully licenses postal financial services, such as their own postal bank.
“If only 51 Posts [postal services] offering saving accounts can bank a billion people, then the
remaining postal operators of the UPU’s 192 member countries, especially strongly populated
ones such as Nigeria, Russia, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Colombia, could easily provide a gateway to
financially include at least 500 million unbanked people directly or through partnerships with
banks,” Mr. Berthaud added.
The Berne-based UPU was created in 1874. In addition to maintaining a universal network that
provides modern products and services, the agency establishes the rules for international mail
exchanges among its 192 members and makes recommendations to stimulate mail volume
growth and to improve the quality of service for customers.
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7. Post Office's Retiree Health Benefits Hole Gets Deeper
Topics: Health Costs, Insurance
Oct 02, 2012
The New York Times: Distress Deepening, Postal Service Defaults On $5.6 Billion Benefits
Payment
The Postal Service sank deeper into debt on Monday after the agency defaulted on a $5.6 billion
payment due at the end of September, the second time it has missed a deadline this year to set
aside money for its future retiree health benefits (Nixon, 10/1).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from
more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and
you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of
reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home
page.
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Munson: Postal hawks nervous about mail's future
12:07 AM, Oct 3, 2012 |
Comments
A
A
Deep River Postmaster Harry Healey Jr., right, retired this year from the Postal Service. Bob
Brennan is replacing Healey.
Deep River Postmaster Harry Healey Jr., right, retired this year from the Postal Service. Bob
Brennan is replacing Healey. / POWESHIEK COUNTY CHRONICLE REPUBLICAN
Written by
Kyle Munson
Filed Under
News
Columnists - News
IOWA POST OFFICE MEETINGS
Meetings have been scheduled in the following communities to discuss reduced post office
hours:
Oct. 9 — Braddyville (6 p.m.)
Oct. 11 — Goldfield (noon), Woolstock (1:15 p.m.), Vincent (2:30 p.m.), Badger (3:30 p.m.),
Clare (4:45 p.m.)
Oct. 15 — Lamoni (1 p.m.), Saint Marys (1 p.m.), Argyle (1:15 p.m.), Swaledale (1:15 p.m.),
Millersburg (1:30 p.m.), Davis City (2 p.m.), Montrose (2 p.m.), North English (2 p.m.), Prole (2
p.m.), Rockwell (2 p.m.), Thornton (2:30 p.m.), Farmington (2:45 p.m.), Deep River (3 p.m.),
Meservey (3:45 p.m.), Fontanelle (4 p.m.), West Point (4:15 p.m.), Ladora (4:30 p.m.), Coulter
(5 p.m.), Cumberland (5:15 p.m.), Pilot Grove (5:30 p.m.), Grant (6:30 p.m.)
Oct. 16 — Lineville (1 p.m.), Hanlontown (1:15 p.m.), Sharpsburg (1:15 p.m.), Blairstown (1:30
p.m.), Allerton (2 p.m.), Alta Vista (2 p.m.), Denmark (2 p.m.), Humeston (2 p.m.), Ionia (2
p.m.), Keystone (2 p.m.), Middletown (2 p.m.), Prescott (2 p.m.), Scarville (2 p.m.), Kensett
(2:30 p.m.), Blockton (2:45 p.m.), Garden Grove (3 p.m.), Watkins (3 p.m.), New London (3:30
p.m.), Manly (3:45 p.m.), Elma (4 p.m.), Diagonal (4:15 p.m.), Grafton (5 p.m.), Mount Union (5
p.m.), Afton (5:30 p.m.), Plymouth (6:15 p.m.), Morning Sun (6:30 p.m.), Thayer (6:30 p.m.)
Oct. 17 — De Soto (1 p.m.), Weldon (1 p.m.), Orchard (1:15 p.m.), Newhall (1:30 p.m.), Olds
(1:30 p.m.), Atkins (2 p.m.), Booneville (2 p.m.), Lime Springs (2 p.m.), Ridgeway (2 p.m.),
Stacyville (2 p.m.), Van Wert (2 p.m.), Wayland (2 p.m.), Floyd (2:30 p.m.), Macksburg (2:30
p.m.), Woodburn (2:30 p.m.), Orient (2:45 p.m.), Winfield (3 p.m.), Lorimor (3:30 p.m.),
Rockford (3:45 p.m.), Russell (3:45 p.m.), Ainsworth (4 p.m.), Protivin (4 p.m.), Crawfordsville
(4:30 p.m.), Promise City (5 p.m.), Grandview (7 p.m.)
Oct. 18 — Boxholm (12:30 p.m.), Britt (1:15 p.m.), Cincinnati (1:15 p.m.), Mount Auburn (1:30
p.m.), Dawson (2 p.m.), Garrison (2 p.m.), Hawkeye (2 p.m.), Letts (2 p.m.), Mystic (2 p.m.),
Woden (2 p.m.), Atalissa (2:30 p.m.), Exline (2:30 p.m.), Wesley (2:45 p.m.), Bouton (3 p.m.),
Urbana (3 p.m.), Lu Verne (4 p.m.), Minburn (4 p.m.), Stockton (4 p.m.), Williamson (5 p.m.),
Ottosen (5:15 p.m.), Buffalo (6 p.m.)
Oct. 19 — Drakesville (1 p.m.), Melcher (1 p.m.), Lacona (2 p.m.), Unionville (2 p.m.), Agency
(2:15 p.m.), Lovilla (2:30 p.m.), Eldon (3:30 p.m.), Hamilton (3:30 p.m.), Batavia (4:30 p.m.),
Leighton (5 p.m.)
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Harry Healey Jr. was eligible to retire two and a half years ago as Deep River’s postmaster but
decided to wait.
The 57-year-old instead relinquished his 52222 ZIP code at the end of August — one of more
than 160 postmasters across Iowa who retired this summer and more than 4,100 nationwide.
The United States Postal Service, in the throes of slash-and-burn cost savings amid staggering
debt and congressional limbo, prodded this wave of retirements with a $20,000 incentive for its
full-time postmasters.
Sure, Healey was ready to spend more time worrying about mailing his own thank-you notes
jotted to friends and family after 34 years shuffling all of his neighbors’ bills and magazines.
But he says he lingered the last two years because he was worried about the fate of Deep River’s
office.
“If I had retired,” Healey said, “I think there’s a good chance they would’ve closed down my
post office.”
Healey is what they call a “postal brat” with family heritage behind the mail counter.
His father worked 31 years for USPS, 18 of them as postmaster in Victor. His mother was a clerk
in Victor and an officer in charge in a few other towns.
So when USPS in May scrapped its plan to close 3,700 offices nationwide and opted instead to
cut hours of operation at 13,000 of them (including 570 in Iowa), that was reassuring — to a
point.
The “kicker,” Healey said, is not knowing whether this latest plan will stick.
“I know a lot of postmasters who feel that this is a temporary step,” he said, “and beware of what
happens two years from now.”
Plenty of postal hawks also are nervous that this new “POST Plan” might be closure by a
different means — whittling away full-fledged postmasters and daily hours so that offices are
easier to zap by emergency suspension.
For now, more than 100 meetings have been scheduled this month in Iowa alone to haggle over
reduced post office hours, after many Iowans already poured their hearts out in meetings on
closures.
Everybody’s been talking this problem to death without much to show for it. It’s sort of like a
big, fat letter that wouldn’t fit through the mail slot even if somebody (namely Congress) had the
guts to put a stamp on it. The numbers are daunting: more than a $14 billion loss this year alone
for the USPS. It’s an election year, which tends to turn pervasive, complicated problems like this
into political poison ivy.
That’s why I turned to Healey. Time for a refreshing dose of common sense from a postal brat:
• Big problems don’t develop overnight. The USPS bungled years ago, Healey said, when it
ceded much of package shipping to United Parcel Service but has since clawed back some of that
business. Small-town residents order from Amazon.com, too.
“Now will that alone sustain the post offices in these small towns?” he said. “That I guess is the
$64,000 question.”
• In a town as small as Deep River (279 residents), a few large mailers can represent more than
half the post office revenue — in this case the local newspaper, a book seller and a mail-order
health supplements retailer.
• Barack Obama and Mitt Romney seem to insert “middle class” into every other sentence. But
here’s an example of where some of the last truly “solid middle-class pay” in small-town
America, Healey said, is being stripped away.
Postmasters routinely are replaced with employees making barely more than one-third of their
salary.
• Healey spent six years of his early career giving postal exams to prospective employees. When
he took the test himself in 1977, he shared a room in Cedar Rapids with about 40 other people.
By the mid-1980s, after manufacturing jobs had taken a nosedive, he conducted three different
sessions with 500 test-takers apiece — a snapshot of how Iowans were turning to the USPS as a
quality employment alternative.
• Where are the creative solutions, not to mention a little empathy? Healey would have loved to
have seen a program in recent years in which war veterans returning from overseas were given
preferred USPS employment in their communities.
• Healey joins the chorus waiting for Congress to fix the underlying financial mess. The USPS
since 2006 has been forced to prefund retiree health benefits for employees not even born, and
the Postal Service defaulted Sunday on another $5.6 billion due to the U.S. Treasury.
Healey, also political action committee director of the Iowa chapter of the National Association
of Postmasters of the United States, has trekked five times to Washington, D.C., to lobby Iowa’s
Congressional delegation.
During his most recent visit in April, he was asked how it was possible to slice from the budget
all those billions of dollars due from the USPS. What would replace it?
Wrong question, Healey said. The ultimate point is that it’s not fair — which doesn’t necessarily
matter in Washington.
“Fair doesn’t matter once the money’s there,” Healey mused.
• He admits we’re living in an online world, but laments that the under-40 demographic “doesn’t
know how to write a card, wouldn’t write a card, wouldn’t take the 10 minutes to write a card to
somebody to say thank you.”
Healey grossly generalizes here, but I’m as guilty as anybody of texting my thanks as “Tnx.”
This postal brat hasn’t completely hung up his mailbag. Sort of like a substitute teacher, he will
continue to work occasional relief shifts and starts one Friday in Ladora.
Kyle Munson can be reached at 515-284-8124 or kmunson @dmreg.com. See more of his
columns, blog posts and video at DesMoinesRegister.com/munson. Connect with him on
Facebook (Kyle Munson's Iowa) and Twitter (@KyleMunson).
POSTAL NEWS
No. 81/2012
Formulated by UNI-Japan Post in cooperation with UNI-Apro,
ASPEK Indonesia and SPPI
1. Postal Service privatization: New York magazine takes delivery into its own
hands. Oct 2, 2012.
2. UN urges increase in role of financial services across global postal sector. Oct
2, 2012.
3. Post Office's Retiree Health Benefits Hole Gets Deeper. Oct 2, 2012.
4. Munson: Postal hawks nervous about mail's future. Oct 3, 2012.
8. Postal Service privatization: New York magazine takes delivery into its own hands
Posted by Allen McDuffee on October 2, 2012 at 11:56 am
News this week that the U.S. Postal Service has defaulted on a second $5.6 billion benefits
payment — the second miss in two months — is sure to reawaken a debate among think tanks
such as the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation that USPS should be privatized.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has blamed Congress for not taking action on the proposals
USPS has put forth over the past year, as they recess until after the November elections, saying,
“Absolutely, we would be profitable right now.”
New York magazine, thanks to increased postage costs with declining service, has decided to
experiment with its own kind of delivery privatization: door-to-door delivery by hand in
Manhattan.
After a test than began in May, sparked by concerns that post-office cutbacks would only
continue to worsen, New York is now rolling out hand delivery to doorman buildings and
commercial addresses in Manhattan. “Hand delivery means you’ll get New York on Monday
mornings — earlier than is possible by U.S. Mail,” New York explained in a letter to some
subscribers.
The cost is competitive with the post office or cheaper, a New York spokeswoman said in an
e-mail. “It also gives us experience in this arena, in preparation for future USPS changes that
may be more onerous.”
Once the rollout is complete, New York will be hand-delivering nearly 60,000 subscriber and
complimentary copies to Manhattan addresses, the spokeswoman said, calling that about 60% of
the magazine’s file in Manhattan.
000
9. UN urges increase in role of financial services across global postal sector
[Delegates attend the 25th Universal Postal Congress in Doha, Qatar. Photo: UPU]
2 October 2012 – The global postal sector should increase its financial services in an effort to
reach millions of unbanked people, help grow small and medium-sized businesses and reduce
poverty overall, according to a study released today by the United Nations global post agency.
In a news release presenting the report, Global Panorama on Postal Financial Inclusion: Business
Models and Key Issues, the UN Universal Postal Union (UPU) described financial services as “a
key lever in advancing the inclusion of unbanked populations into the formal financial system,”
noting that already one billion people worldwide were benefiting from financial inclusion via
their local postal services.
“The postal network offers tremendous potential for fostering financial inclusion,” one of the
authors of the UPU report, Alexandre Berthaud, said in the news release.
The report’s release comes as more than 2,000 delegates gather in Doha, Qatar, for the 25th
Universal Postal Congress to examine the challenges that have arisen for the global postal sector
and how to strengthen its services worldwide.
The three-week meeting brings together postal leaders and stakeholders from the UPU’s 192
member countries to decide on the global postal sector’s future, including proposals to modify
the rules and regulations governing the exchange of international mail, as well as
recommendations on the way forward in areas such as quality of service, postal security, ecommerce and trade facilitation, and postal financial services.
Emphasizing the role financial services can play in advancing the anti-poverty targets known as
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr. Berthaud acknowledged that although one
billion people worldwide already avail themselves of postal banking services – adding up to
some $1.6 billion in savings and deposit accounts – more intensive efforts were necessary to
increase the number of account holders.
In addition, the UPU Congress adopted a resolution last week urging member countries to
continue developing financial services and recognizing the importance of such services in
reducing global poverty. Moreover, during the most recent financial crisis, numerous postal
services offering financial services saw an increase in the number of customers and accounts.
The report also details five categories of business models available to postal services seeking to
adopt financial services, ranging from cash merchant for government and financial services
providers to having fully licenses postal financial services, such as their own postal bank.
“If only 51 Posts [postal services] offering saving accounts can bank a billion people, then the
remaining postal operators of the UPU’s 192 member countries, especially strongly populated
ones such as Nigeria, Russia, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Colombia, could easily provide a gateway to
financially include at least 500 million unbanked people directly or through partnerships with
banks,” Mr. Berthaud added.
The Berne-based UPU was created in 1874. In addition to maintaining a universal network that
provides modern products and services, the agency establishes the rules for international mail
exchanges among its 192 members and makes recommendations to stimulate mail volume
growth and to improve the quality of service for customers.
000
10. Post Office's Retiree Health Benefits Hole Gets Deeper
Topics: Health Costs, Insurance
Oct 02, 2012
The New York Times: Distress Deepening, Postal Service Defaults On $5.6 Billion Benefits
Payment
The Postal Service sank deeper into debt on Monday after the agency defaulted on a $5.6 billion
payment due at the end of September, the second time it has missed a deadline this year to set
aside money for its future retiree health benefits (Nixon, 10/1).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from
more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and
you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of
reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home
page.
000
11. Munson: Postal hawks nervous about mail's future
12:07 AM, Oct 3, 2012 |
Written by
Kyle Munson
Harry Healey Jr. was eligible to retire two and a half years ago as Deep River’s postmaster but
decided to wait.
The 57-year-old instead relinquished his 52222 ZIP code at the end of August — one of more
than 160 postmasters across Iowa who retired this summer and more than 4,100 nationwide.
The United States Postal Service, in the throes of slash-and-burn cost savings amid staggering
debt and congressional limbo, prodded this wave of retirements with a $20,000 incentive for its
full-time postmasters.
Sure, Healey was ready to spend more time worrying about mailing his own thank-you notes
jotted to friends and family after 34 years shuffling all of his neighbors’ bills and magazines.
But he says he lingered the last two years because he was worried about the fate of Deep River’s
office.
“If I had retired,” Healey said, “I think there’s a good chance they would’ve closed down my
post office.”
Healey is what they call a “postal brat” with family heritage behind the mail counter.
His father worked 31 years for USPS, 18 of them as postmaster in Victor. His mother was a clerk
in Victor and an officer in charge in a few other towns.
So when USPS in May scrapped its plan to close 3,700 offices nationwide and opted instead to
cut hours of operation at 13,000 of them (including 570 in Iowa), that was reassuring — to a
point.
The “kicker,” Healey said, is not knowing whether this latest plan will stick.
“I know a lot of postmasters who feel that this is a temporary step,” he said, “and beware of what
happens two years from now.”
Plenty of postal hawks also are nervous that this new “POST Plan” might be closure by a
different means — whittling away full-fledged postmasters and daily hours so that offices are
easier to zap by emergency suspension.
For now, more than 100 meetings have been scheduled this month in Iowa alone to haggle over
reduced post office hours, after many Iowans already poured their hearts out in meetings on
closures.
Everybody’s been talking this problem to death without much to show for it. It’s sort of like a
big, fat letter that wouldn’t fit through the mail slot even if somebody (namely Congress) had the
guts to put a stamp on it. The numbers are daunting: more than a $14 billion loss this year alone
for the USPS. It’s an election year, which tends to turn pervasive, complicated problems like this
into political poison ivy.
That’s why I turned to Healey. Time for a refreshing dose of common sense from a postal brat:
• Big problems don’t develop overnight. The USPS bungled years ago, Healey said, when it
ceded much of package shipping to United Parcel Service but has since clawed back some of that
business. Small-town residents order from Amazon.com, too.
“Now will that alone sustain the post offices in these small towns?” he said. “That I guess is the
$64,000 question.”
• In a town as small as Deep River (279 residents), a few large mailers can represent more than
half the post office revenue — in this case the local newspaper, a book seller and a mail-order
health supplements retailer.
• Barack Obama and Mitt Romney seem to insert “middle class” into every other sentence. But
here’s an example of where some of the last truly “solid middle-class pay” in small-town
America, Healey said, is being stripped away.
Postmasters routinely are replaced with employees making barely more than one-third of their
salary.
• Healey spent six years of his early career giving postal exams to prospective employees. When
he took the test himself in 1977, he shared a room in Cedar Rapids with about 40 other people.
By the mid-1980s, after manufacturing jobs had taken a nosedive, he conducted three different
sessions with 500 test-takers apiece — a snapshot of how Iowans were turning to the USPS as a
quality employment alternative.
• Where are the creative solutions, not to mention a little empathy? Healey would have loved to
have seen a program in recent years in which war veterans returning from overseas were given
preferred USPS employment in their communities.
• Healey joins the chorus waiting for Congress to fix the underlying financial mess. The USPS
since 2006 has been forced to prefund retiree health benefits for employees not even born, and
the Postal Service defaulted Sunday on another $5.6 billion due to the U.S. Treasury.
Healey, also political action committee director of the Iowa chapter of the National Association
of Postmasters of the United States, has trekked five times to Washington, D.C., to lobby Iowa’s
Congressional delegation.
During his most recent visit in April, he was asked how it was possible to slice from the budget
all those billions of dollars due from the USPS. What would replace it?
Wrong question, Healey said. The ultimate point is that it’s not fair — which doesn’t necessarily
matter in Washington.
“Fair doesn’t matter once the money’s there,” Healey mused.
• He admits we’re living in an online world, but laments that the under-40 demographic “doesn’t
know how to write a card, wouldn’t write a card, wouldn’t take the 10 minutes to write a card to
somebody to say thank you.”
Healey grossly generalizes here, but I’m as guilty as anybody of texting my thanks as “Tnx.”
This postal brat hasn’t completely hung up his mailbag. Sort of like a substitute teacher, he will
continue to work occasional relief shifts and starts one Friday in Ladora.
Kyle Munson can be reached at 515-284-8124 or kmunson @dmreg.com. See more of his
columns, blog posts and video at DesMoinesRegister.com/munson. Connect with him on
Facebook (Kyle Munson's Iowa) and Twitter (@KyleMunson).