Association for Postal Commerce 1901 N. Fort Myer Dr., Ste 401 * Arlington, VA 22209-1609 * USA * Ph.: +1 703 524 0096 * Fax: +1 703 524 1871 Postal News from February 2011: February 28, 2011 The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on the this week’s “Pushing the Envelope” blog topic: • Bridging the Digital Divide. What is the Postal Service’s role in the digital age? New Audit Projects: LINK here to visit our audit project pages. This week we opened the following new project(s): (Please share any information you may have that would help with this audit currently in progress by clicking on the link below): A new audit project has been started on the external website. • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Regulations – 11YG019HR000. We are going to look at Postal Service processes in place to prevent and address Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, limit their impact on Postal operations, and prevent future violations. • Western Pennsylvania District PVS Scheduling and Staffing – 11XG026NL000. The purpose of this audit is to determine whether scheduling and staffing of Postal vehicle Service (PVS) operations are efficient, effective, and economical. This audit will focus on a district identified and extracted from our Risk Model, Western Pennsylvania. The audit will use current schedules for the facilities in the district and evaluate staffing levels based on need and benchmarking information. Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Office of Management and Budget media office has provided the following response to my question regarding why OMB Director Jacob Lew is not testifying at the Postal Hearing this Wednesday. "As a matter of policy, the OMB Director doesn't testify before subcommittees on issues not directly related to OMB’s appropriations." If this is standard policy for OMB then the Subcommittee may have posted the hearing schedule prior to knowing the protocol. Let's hope that the Committee can quickly find out who will represent the Obama administration on postal policy. Until that happens, the 2012 budget proposal for the Postal Service risks becoming little more than a policy orphan. At the Postal Regulatory Commission: • The public is invited to attend the open session of the monthly meeting of the Postal Regulatory Commission at 11:00 a.m., March 9, 2011, at Commission Headquarters, 901 New York Ave., NW, Suite 200. The open session will be audiocast live. Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 11 a.m. Commission Hearing Room, 901 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20268-0001. Matters To Be Considered In Public Session: 1. Review of active cases. 2. Report on recent activities of the Joint Periodicals Task Force and status of the report to the Congress pursuant to Section 708 of the PAEA. 3. Report on review of postal-related Congressional activity. 4. Report on Legislative Review. 5 Report on contracts to study the social benefit of the mail. 6. Report on international activities. Matters For Consideration In Closed Session 7. Discussion of pending litigation. 8. Discussion of confidential personnel issues. 9. Discussion of contracts involving confidential commercial information. • CP2011-59 Order No. 684 - Order Approving International Business Reply Service Competitive Contract 3 Negotiated Service Agreement http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72114/Order684.doc http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72114/Order684.pdf • MC2011-20 Order No. 685 - Order Incorporating Reply Rides Free Program Classification Change Into the Mail Classification Schedule http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72116/Order685.docx http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72116/Order685.pdf • MC2011-21 Order No. 684 - Order Approving International Business Reply Service Competitive Contract 3 Negotiated Service Agreement http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72114/Order684.doc http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72114/Order684.pdf Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: Congressman Dennis Ross has just tweeted that OMB is not testifying at the Postal Service hearing this Wednesday. The loss of OMB as a witness as it eliminates the possibility of putting the Obama administration on the record on postal policy. Where else can you hear FTC Director David Vladeck discuss “Do Not Track,” Senator Mark Pryor lay out the Senate’s privacy priorities and Ambassador Philip Verveer speak about the global landscape for privacy regulation…all in one day? It’s happening only at DMA in DC 2011 on March 15-16, 2011! Please join us in Washington, DC for a conference agenda packed with discussion and debate that you can’t afford to miss… • Attend an intimate dinner with Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR). • Get answers to whether “more data” means “more problems” from David Vladeck, Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Ambassador Philip Verveer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State & U.S. Coordinator for International Communications & Information Policy. • Understand what "Do Not Track" proposals mean for businesses from privacy experts Stuart Ingis of Venable LLP and Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. • Learn Senator John F. Kerry's priorities for privacy legislation from Daniel Sepulveda, the man behind the bill. • Meet with your Congressional representatives on Capitol Hill on March 16 and discuss – face to face – the issues that matter most to your business. Space at the meeting is limited to 100 attendees, so please register today to secure your seat. DMA in DC is a special, invitation-only event held once per year, so we encourage you to make every effort to attend, bring your thoughts and questions and be prepared to take "DMAAction" on behalf of your organization! American Postal Workers Union: A protest on March 7th 2011 at the White House 'Regarding the Protection of the United States Postal Service' organized by active and retired APWU rank and file membership. The demonstration primarily focuses on a permanent solution and payback to/of the CSRS and FERS pension over- funding to save postal worker jobs rather than the temporary 'relief' measures proposed by the Obama administration's budget plans allowing further dismantling of the postal service. The Postalnews Blog has reported that "APWU President Cliff Guffey has declined an invitation to take part in a “march and rally” in Washington DC during the APWU’s National Presidents Conference next week. The invitation was extended by St Cloud MN Area Local President Michael P. Kaehler, who told Guffey he was writing to him as a rank and file member. Guffey declined the invitation, saying that while “a march and rally in the nation’s capital may be appropriate at some point in the future, at the present time, however I do not believe it would be the most effective use of our resources.” Microscope: Death and taxes. The two certainties in life according to US founding father Benjamin Franklin. Well not to disappoint, the Government has now added VAT to certain postal services as of 31 January. So whilst standard UK services are still VAT exempt, express, tracked and international services now attract VAT. It might seem obvious, but ensure that you reclaim any VAT you pay when using a VATable postal service. Wall Street Journal: As the surreptitious tracking of Internet users becomes more aggressive and widespread, tiny start-ups and technology giants alike are pushing a new product: privacy. TVNZ: New Zealand Post Group, the state-owned postal service, slashed its first-half dividend to the government by two-thirds as its reported profit more than halved. NZ Post will pay just $1.8 million to the government for the six months ended December 31, down from $5.7 million a year earlier, as net profit tumbled 63% to $15.8 million in the period. [EdNote: Wonder what will happen when the USPS fails to pay its pre-funding obligation at the end of this fiscal year.] Bernama: Postal service provider POS Malaysia Bhd recorded a decrease in pre-tax profit for the year ended Dec 31, 2010, taking into account two major impairment provisions. The total impairment provision made was RM47.4 million, of which RM25.1 million was for investment in Transmile Group Bhd while the remaining RM22.3 million related to capital expenditure incurred for the postal counter system. "As a result of this impairment provisions, the pre-tax profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2010, slipped to RM99.1 million as compared with RM109.3 million in 2009," said POS Malaysia in a filing to Bursa Malaysia. Revenue was, however, at a record level of RM1.014 billion from RM902.56 million previously. Postalnews Blog: Rep Dennis Ross, the new chair of the House subcommittee that oversees the US Postal Service has made no secret of his contempt for public sector workers and their unions. Concord Monitor: New Hampshire has 222 post offices, about one for every 6,000 residents. That's going to change. In fact, the change has already begun. In 2009, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service closed the office that oversaw New Hampshire's post offices and consolidated with its counterpart in Portland, Maine. Some New Hampshire post offices should close, but some money-losing offices, especially those in rural areas, should be maintained, even if doing so requires a federal subsidy. February 27, 2011 Voxy: New Zealand Post will be back in action in Christchurch on Tuesday, a week after the big quake. Spokesman John Tulloch today said limited postal services would start again that day. See also Scoop. Hellmail: Several European operators have reported that postal services in and out of Egypt are gradually returning to normal and backlogged mail now starting to clear. On Friday, UK postal regulator Postcomm published its proposed work plan up to the proposed transfer of its responsibilities to communications regulator Ofcom as outlined in the 2010 Postal Services Bill.