Postal News & Views

d/ap Postal Blog

Should the Postal Service be a competitive business, an enabling infrastructure, or something in-between?

Part of the USPS OIG series on Five Elements of a Postal Solution The record on competitive postal services is mixed. Private postal operators in Latin America are thriving, while in the U.K. they are lagging. Theoretically, competition increases efficiency. However, the U.S. postal service can now deliver cheaply because it visits every house and [...]

The Postal Platform and Network Effects

The International Postal Corporation (IPC) and the USPS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) have both recently shown interest in the concept of digital platforms and their applicability to the postal world. Professor Marshall Van Alstyne, Associate Professor of information economics at Boston University/MIT, provided both organizations with overviews of his research in this area. Typical examples of [...]

The Posts can become a portal to eGov-lite services

Implementing eGov is, by all accounts, a complex and time consuming undertaking.  A recent survey conducted by the UN shows that high income countries are in the lead and that the gap in eGov implementation is widening between developed and emerging countries. Postal organizations can play a prominent role in extending their core mission and their [...]

Towards an integrated approach to bundling…

decision/analysis partners was recently asked by a large post to perform a study on mail bundling technologies. The study consisted of two parts: a test of bundles on sorting equipment within a plant, and a survey of trends in mailers and bundle equipment manufacturers. The study revealed that significant savings could be achieved beyond selecting [...]

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North American Postal News

US Postal Service unveils GoPost – self-service parcel locker

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled gopost, a new self-service parcel locker, Thursday April 19, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony witnessed by hundreds of shoppers and retailers at the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington, Virginia.

Postal Reform Act of 2011 would save about $20B according to the CBO

H.R. 2309, also known as the Postal Reform Act of 2011, would change the laws that govern the operation of the Postal Service, resulting in off-budget savings totaling about $28 billion and on-budget costs of about $8 billion over the 2012-2022 period.

USPS gopost is a go….

I received a lovely mailer in my home mailbox for USPS’ new parcel terminal service, gopost, asking me to register online for an account. I thought the privacy policies were a little loose – allowing USPS to share my info with any service partner. The service also require me to physically go to one of [...]

U.S. Postal Service Recognizes Direct Mail Success

WASHINGTON – May 3rd, 2011 — The U.S. Postal Service today honored Ohio-based branding agency Mlicki with a Marketing Achievement in Innovation and Leadership (MAIL) Award for a direct mail campaign that attained a 10 percent response rate.

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d/ap Postal News

d/ap authors Mail & Express Review article on Postal Platforms

You may read and download a copy of the Mail & Express Review article here

d/ap sponsors North African postal conference

d/ap will participate and sponsor the conference entitled “Nouveaux gisements pour la Poste en Afrique“, on December 8 and 9, 2011 in Marrakech, Morocco. The conference will bring together leaders from 15 francophone posts of North, West and Central Africa. Below is the English announcement from the conference organizers: New Sources of development for the [...]

decision/analysis partners LLC to showcase comprehensive postal advisory services at PostExpo 2011 focusing on operational excellence.

decision/analysis partners will be showcasing its worldwide postal, mailing and shipping advisory services at this year’s PostExpo tradeshow held at the Stuttgart Messe in Stuttgart, Germany on September 27, 28 and 29, 2011 focusing on operational excellence. decision/analysis will feature the following operational areas in booth 5020: • Distribution planning • Network optimization • Sort [...]

decision/analysis partners previews PostExpo promotional video

Click to see the video

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World Postal News

DHL’s Paket.de gives Germans choice of delivery options

With the launch in April 2012 of www.paket.de  DHL parcels recipients can decide online when and how their goods will be delivered : at one of the 2,500 Packstations, at a neighbor’s home, or at home. It is even possible to tell DHL where on customers’ premises the package should be left, i.e., in a [...]

NZ Post latest to join the list of posts offering ID verification

Until recently, New Zealand Post’s main involvement in government services related to electoral enrolment services, through a MoU with the Department of Justice. For many years, New Zealanders have been able to get from NZ Post Shops electoral enrolment forms, which they can leave at the counter or mail back . The Post is now [...]

Brazil sets principles for partnerships between Posts and third parties

In the past few years Posts have started to open up their network of post offices to third parties – among which traditional banks, international money transfer operators, new mobile payments operators, or mobile service providers. The jury is still out as to whether these strategies have really paid off . Many Posts, in particular [...]

The NIPOST / One Network partnership : creating a disruptive business model ?

The agreement between the Nigerian Post (NIPOST) and One Network, announced in March 2012,  may well become –  if it materializes according to plans – a partnership made in heaven, a textbook case study, and a model for many other postal operators. – One Network is a Nigerian industry stakeholder organization including payment processors, financial [...]

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