DHL is hoping to streamline its network operations and improve on-time deliveries through a new truck route optimization program to be rolled out at 340 stations over the next nine months....

As reported by PostCom of Business Mailers Review issue dated March 10, 2006

• The Postal Service is expected to file today its intention to expand testing of the concept of customized postage for up to two years beginning no earlier than March 20. Right now Zazzle.com, in partnership with Pitney Bowes, Stamps.com and Endicia are the only companies authorized as vendors for customized postage.
• USPS will soon be demonstrating how serious it is about improving address quality by unveiling a coordinated strategy for reducing the amount of undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail. Look for the Intelligent Mail and Address Quality and Product Development operations to jointly release an initiative before this summer.
• The Business Service Network (BSN) is being revamped with a goal toward partnering with managed accounts on the same level as a sales manager.
• The Postal Service is getting high marks from business mailers for the open way it has been outlining its network realignment plans in the past few weeks.
• Meanwhile, the Postal Rate Commission has announced key procedural steps for its review of the USPS filing for an advisory opinion on changes to national delivery service standards that will likely result from the mail processing and transportation network changes.
• Now that the Postal Service is stepping up its work on a Flats Sequencing System (FSS) to cut costs in handling of flats, one of industry's big concerns revolves around potential new standards for address placement that could get in the way of design and ad space.
• Lack of a meaningful cap on rate increases is just one of the flaws respected postal expert Murray Comarow sees in the postal reform legislation pending in the House and Senate. In a new article Comarow argues that there is no effective rate cap in the legislation because the Postal Service is not given any additional flexibility or authority to address labor costs, which account for nearly 80% of Postal Service costs.
• With the Postal Service expected to file a rate case within the next few months, mailers are obviously wondering whether the Postal Service will propose an increase in the mid-single digits, as postal officials had been saying publicly or something much higher. When considering the amount of revenue it will need to raise through a rate increase, the Postal Service will have to take into account the impact of that increase on mail volume, revenue and costs. When the rates go up, the volume declines and the degree to which that occurs is called the elasticity of demand.
• Now that the Postal Service has lifted its moratorium on increasing international mail rates, smart mailers should review their options to see if it makes sense to invest in alternative distribution avenues other than USPS, according to an international mailing expert. Contrary to common perceptions international mail volume within the United States is not declining.
• The Postal Rate Commission (PRC) has recommended a permanent Parcel Return Service, aimed at providing a low-cost, easy way for retail customers of mail-order or online merchants to return purchased goods.