11:59 pm

I Live in Wisconsin So I had to Have my Opium Sent in the Mail - MANITOWAC, WISCONSIN - Okay, guys.  Remember when you were a kid and things were different, at least when it came to buying stuff?   There was none of this Ebay crap or online shopping at your leisure.  You either got dragged to the store by your mom, who was never in the mood for your “I want this” and “I want that” nonsense, or you ordered things through the mail.  First it was that ace Charles Atlas weightlifting program that showed you how to kick a bully’s ass at the beach, only it never worked all that good.  Then it was the totally awesome package of sea monkeys from the Far East, yet they ended up being made of rubber.  Well, nowadays it’s not much different, eat least for these Chinese ladies.  They live out in the middle of nowhere, but the US mail still delivered their stuff from home, and a warrant for their arrest.

Two Chinese women accused of receiving opium through the mail were busted for a variety of crimes by federal officials in Manitowoc County, a rural area with only one mail carrier (who must have known what opium smelled like).  Both ladies were charged with felonious possession of a controlled substsance and using the US mail to transport a banned drug.    The women were arrested after the mailman noticed an odd but pleasing smell omitting from a box addressed to house.  Once he realized what that smell was, obviously black tar opium, he called in the drug-sniffing dogs who immediately ran to the package bound for the women’s clandestine opium den they were running out of their house. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_opium_arrest_2)

According to police reports, one of the gals signed for the package  after being called to the post offfice.  She took it to her own home unaware she was on the Fed’s candid camera. Later that day investigators executed a search warrant there and found the package, which contained about 11 pounds of twigs soaked with opium.  No further details were given, and phone numbers for both were unlisted.  The question is who the hell lists a phone number for an underground opium den ran by two Chinese women in rural Wisconsin?  Better yet, what good is 11 pounds of  sticks soaked in Afghanistan Mud and sent in the US mail?  Answer: Find a mailman, build a fire, and enjoy the smoke.  The answer to both questions will be revealed in your dreams. 

This is a mailbox that is a few miles from my house.  I saw it one day and then went back a few months later to photograph it.  I’ve done that a lot.  I’ll see something and then when I get a chance which might be way later I’ll go back and take photos.  I love ‘old’ stuff.  This is one of my favorites!

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com

Peter Clothier Author and Blogger, The Buddha Diaries Posted: August 22, 2009 10:52 AM Re: High Noon, 09/01/09: A Health Care March on Washington — Close to Home

(Find your senators’ addresses here

Step 3: IMPORTANT! On Tuesday, September 1 at precisely NOON o’clock, I drive, ride or walk to my nearest United States Post Office and silently place my letters in the outgoing mailbox.

What’s so complicated? I promise to do this no matter if I’m the only one in the entire country, but I invite you to join me. With your help in forwarding this email and your commitment to this simple action, we can stage a massive, elegantly simple, nation-wide demonstration that links cities, towns and villages throughout the country. It will require a few minutes of your time, but WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Suppose I were to find hundreds of like-minded people doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time? I shake their hands. What about hundreds of thousands, if not millions of good-hearted Americans? We will all come to the US Post Office. We will all place our letters in the outgoing mailbox. We will all shake hands.

We live in magical times.  For a reasonable monthly fee, using a device that is better and cheaper every time I buy a new one, I can use the Internet to get access to messages, music, movies, news, porn (ahem, if I wanted it), and an amazing array of other things almost instantly from the comfort of my home.

Woe betide you though, if you live in a isolated area where you don’t have access to high-speed Internet service.  You can still get access via your plain old telephone lines, but that service is so slow that downloading anything more than basic text is too painful to contemplate.

Something just as magical serves even the most isolated areas of the country, though it’s been going on for so long that we take it for granted.  For a tiny fee, I can have a person pick up actual physical messages, music, movies, news, porn (ahem, if I had any), and an amazing array of other things, and have those items delivered within a day or two anywhere in the entire country, whether it’s somewhere in the middle of a huge city, or somewhere out in the woods of Vermont.  And anyone can have any of those things delivered to me, using that same service.  We don’t have to worry about compatible computers or deciding how to make connections.  It’s all taken care of for us.

That system is, of course, the United States Postal Service.

Since 1775, the USPS has been delivering the mail, growing along with the country.  Starting in 1896, Rural Free Delivery expanded that service to everyone.  Now the USPS is experiencing a fiscal crisis.  The Post Office is expected to pay for itself, but revenues are down due to competition from other delivery services and decreases in mail traffic as people make more use of the Internet.  The USPS lost $2.8 billion in 2008 and $5.1 billion in 2007 and is projected to lose more than $6 billion in 2009.

Some people want to privatize the Post Office.  The USPS provides an important service, ensuring that everyone, no matter how little clout they have, has access to maildelivery.  It’s part of the glue that keeps the country together.  One thing is for sure.  If the USPS is privatized, your grandma in rural Idaho won’t be able to send Christmas cards for 43 cents apiece any more.

But if the USPS is going to survive, it has to change.  Like any other business, they have two choices.  They can cut costs or increase revenues.  Both options are difficult, especially in the current economic climate when all businesses are suffering.

The Post Office is already exploring cost-cutting options.  The Post Office is the second largest employer in the country with about 670,000 employees (only Wal-Mart is larger).  The USPS is offering an early retirement package to 20% of their workforce, hoping 3 to 5% of those eligible will accept.  In many cases, these are people who applied for their jobs looking for secure lifetime employment, so they’re not going to leave easily, given that similar jobs are hard to find.  Another option is H.R. 22, which would allow the USPS to pay for healthcare benefits for current retirees out of its Retiree Health Benefit Fund instead of its operating budget. If the House passes H.R. 22, it would save the USPS an average of $3.5 billion per year over the next eight years.  From what I can see, they’re just shuffling money around and the actual healthcare expenses don’t change, but what do I know.

Anyhow, if we take a look at the other side, revenue enhancement, we find that there’s one class of postal customer that gets an even better deal that your grandma in Idaho.  That’s the “Standard Mail” customer, or as we all know him, the junk mailer.  Junk mail is pre-labeled and sorted by the sender to reduce costs for the post office.  Delivery is slower, and Standard Mail is not forwarded if you move. In return, the junk mailer gets a special, extremely low rate.

The USPS posts their revenue numbers online.   Looking at the numbers from 2008, the USPS delivered about 91.7 billion pieces of First Class mail of all kinds (letters, packages, etc…) and took in $38.2 billion dollars, about 42 cents per piece.  There were 99.1 billion pieces of “standard” mail, resulting in revenue of $20.1 billion dollars, or about 20 cents per piece.  Suppose we raised the Standard Mail rate 10%.  A 10% rate hike for junk mail would bring in $3.8 billion dollars.  That would help quite a bit.  Make it 20% and you’ve covered the projected deficit for 2009.  And junk mail would still only cost a little more than half of what it costs to send a piece of First Class mail.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. I kept the math simple by treating all the different sizes of mail alike and by assuming that the relative numbers of the different types of pieces remains the same.  Non-profit charities send a portion of the junk mail, and we might choose to keep their rates lower (I wouldn’t – they’re some of the most prolific junk mailers).  And if the rates went up, there would probably be fewer pieces of junk mail, so the increase in revenue would be less than expected.  But most people would see a reduced amount of junk mail as a major benefit!

The United States Postal Service is worth saving.  They have to do a big part of the job themselves by becoming more efficient and less of an employment service, so they can react better to changing times.  But if it takes raising the price of junk mail delivery to help the Post Office survive, that’s a small price to pay.

by Emma Harper, Cataloguer (Collections)

In my last blog there was a picture of a letter box with Mickey Mouse on it. This is just one of many items in the Wilkinson Collection that has images of characters from popular culture on it. Some of these have specifically postal links, the most obvious being Postman Pat, others are there because the objects are primarily directed at children. It may be that you collected objects with Disney characters on, or were a fan of Danger Mouse when you were younger, or still do now! I know I was particularly excited when I found a money box tin in the shape of the old Police public call boxes only to find that it was in fact a model Tardis with none other than Tom Baker as Doctor Who on the front, complete with his iconic long stripey scarf, something that brought back memories of my own childhood. There are many items like these in the Wilkinson Collection.

Danger Mouse Talc Container

After Postman Pat, the most postally relevant popular character to appear in the Wilkinson Collection is Danger Mouse and his side-kick, Penfold, named after the designer of one of Britain’s best loved pillar box. Despite the name Penfold, the pair actually lived in an Anonymous pillar box and it is this that ensured their inclusion in the collection. One of the items that features the pair is a model plastic letter box which was also a bubble bath container. Another is a container for talcum powder (left) which shows Penfold holding onto a rope inside the letter box with Danger Mouse standing next to him. That a programme such as Danger Mouse can use a letter box as the hero’s home shows how instantly recognisable letter boxes are and makes an everyday object part of another world.

Some of the model letter boxes in the collection are also musical boxes. One of these shows the dog ‘Dougal’ from the television series ‘The Magic Roundabout’. However, this object also has a more serious message as on the back is a decimal currency conversion chart complete with pictures of the new coins. This is another common theme used on model letter boxes made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, – the period when Britain changed from an imperial to a decimal currency – and shows how important an issue it was. Indeed, the post office itself was involved in organising aspects of the change-over.

Ian Wilkinson also collected model post vehicles (pictured below), one of which shows a US mail car being driven by the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip character Snoopy. The car has paw prints on it and ‘SNOOPY/ US MAIL’ is inscribed on the sides. Maybe seeing their favourite cartoon character drive a mail car inspired some children to work as a postman/ woman when they were older, I’m sure Postman Pat must be responsible for a few recruits! Other popular characters that appear throughout the collection are Paddington Bear, Felix the cat and Spot the dog. There is also a tin depicting Coronation Street, which includes a letter box!

A group of vehicles from the Wilkinson Collection, including a US mail car with Snoopy

I had a lot of fun cataloguing these items as not only were they things I had enjoyed as a child, but they were also not what I had expected to find in the collection. This highlights how diverse and unusual collections can become. If you recognise any of the objects mentioned here, or have similar ones do please respond with your own memories!

I was wandering down E. Houston on a photo excursion earlier this afternoon and I’d just finished photographing the new mural, which I’ll post here in the near future, when I came across this friendly mailman, Mike.

Thanks for letting me photograph you, Mike!

there goes the mail, originally uploaded by Music Man5.

]]> http://globeu.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/101/ Sat, 09 May 2009 00:23:57 +0000 anthonyttoigo http://globeu.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/101/

YouTube Video
Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies “Space Travel on Earth” SM TM

“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

What JFK’s dream realized: The bold move of putting mankind on the moon created vast wealth. US Intellectual property (IP) value now exceeds our tangible asset worth. Although Manufacturing is shifting to Asia, half of global IP licensing income flows to the US. Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) is efficiency improving technology that will extend NASA benefits. Because of exorbitant costs, only a few astronauts experience frictionless travel in orbit; by contrast, ETT will offer the enormous benefits of frictionless “Space Travel on Earth” for everyone to enjoy at any time.

The value of ETT will dwarf the wealth that NASA inspired IP and hardware created. The first nations to leverage ETT will trigger and ride a wave of unprecedented global prosperity. ETT will: eliminate oil reliance, enhance global security, green the earth, invigorate stagnant industries, and net millions of high paying jobs. Most importantly, ETT will stimulate the global economy by availing an extremely high return on investment (ROI) for companies who build it.

How ETT works: ETT is a patented technology where travel occurs without air resistance or rolling resistance. ETT can accomplish fifty times more transportation per kWh than electric cars or trains. ETT is silent, ultra safe, faster than jets, and is electric. Air is permanently removed from two five foot diameter tubes built along a travel route. ETT is not pneumatic tube transport commonly used at drive-up banks. Car-sized passenger/cargo capsules travel in the tubes on frictionless maglev. Airlocks at stations allow transfer without admitting air. Linear motors safely accelerate the capsules, for most of the trip they coast through the vacuum without using additional energy. Acceleration energy is recovered by using linear generators to decelerate the capsules. ETT will eventually serve most homes.

ETT is networked like freeways, the capsules are automatically routed like internet traffic, yet a capsule can exit at any desired branch. Speeds of 350 mph for in-state use will develop to 4,000 mph for cross country (45 min. from NYC to LA) and global travel. Empty ETT capsules weigh 400 lbs yet can accommodate six people or three pallets of cargo. Guideways to support ETT capsules require 1/20th the material needed to support trains. Material efficiency and automated production will drop cost to less than 1/10th that of High Speed Rail, or 1/4th that of freeways. Automated switching allows a 350mph ETT route to exceed the capacity of a 32 lane freeway, producing further economy.

The opportunity: ETT value will produce ROI high enough to guarantee private investment. ETT benefits will compound for generations. Collectively companies have invested billions developing ETT (though most are yet unaware of it); for instance, many companies currently produce the hardware and software necessary to build and automate ETT. The technology is owned by et3.com Inc., an open and growing consortium of licensees. These companies and individuals collectively network, and leverage their assets to implement, manage, and improve, ETT.

Private investment of $500B in optimally placed ETT routes will displace up to half of US transportation. The manifold annual return on this investment will include: direct savings of $1.4T (includes energy), time savings of $625B, environmental benefits over $200B, security $70B (saves cost of protecting oil assets), 20,000 lives saved, and reduces uninsured losses. This totals almost $2.3T/yr. Secondary benefits include: economic expansion, better distribution of commodities, improved global standard of living, and accessibility to education and markets to mention only a few.

Building a 14,500 mile ETT backbone from New York to London (via Alaska, China, India, and Europe) for less than $1T would capture 10% of the $8.5T global transportation pie by connecting major population and production centers. Traveling from New York City to Beijing in two hours on ETT (with a comparable fare to flying) would yield 90% profit margin. This allows greatly reduced transportation cost. In less than a generation the ETT network expansion could capture a majority of earth transportation, with potential to grow to over $30T/yr. present value.

China recognizes the immense value of ETT and holds a five-year advantage over the US in its implementation. Instead of waiting for others, we have a patriotic duty to leverage our IP advantage and be the first nation to commercialize ETT leading the world out of the present global economic crisis. We can boldly create unprecedented environmental, social, and economic returns through ETT. This will usher in an age of global prosperity for many generations. The United States will enjoy enormous profit by providing transportation, like Saudi Arabia sells oil.

ETT, et3, “space travel on earth” and the logos thereof are trademarks and service marks of et3.com Inc. (©) 2009 all rights reserved.

If I heard T. Boone Pickens correctly, the United States now imports more than 70% of its oil. That’s a staggering amount when we consider how much of our economy is dependent upon energy and transportation services. Without these crucial elements, we are squandering the precious natural resource called petroleum that allows this economy to exist and allows us to survive.

Think about it. Think about all of the mobile activity that takes place every day in this country and then think of how that would be without the vehicles and energy that allow that mobility to take place. How for example, would you or I get to the store to buy bread and milk? How would the farmer get the milk to the dairy? How would the grocery store receive the milk and bread from the bakery and dairy? Let’s face it, we are all completely dependent on energy and transportation.

I remember several years ago when I was visiting Portland Oregon and saw a bumper sticker on a Suburban that said, “Condi in 08.” I had to laugh when I considered the limited perspective of the individual driving that vehicle. Don’t get me wrong, cars have served us in amazing ways that we all need to appreciate and petroleum has also been an important part that has assisted the automobile in serving us. But the larger point in a larger context is the idea that somehow, that the energy used to propel that vehicle could somehow magically appear if Condi Rice were to become president. The main point is that no matter who gets elected to be president, the natural state of things will never reproduce the vast energy stores of this earth in any reasonable short period of time that would ever be sustainable. Consider that it took the earth many millions of years to produce what we have consumed in the past 100+ years. Also consider that the current energy production capacity of the entire globe stands at 85 million barrels peak per day while use rates last summer in July breached 87 million barrels. Consider this knowing and realizing that more than 2/3 of the worlds population is still sitting on the sidelines of the modern world economy while the rest of us squander what’s left of our precious globe’s gift of vast natural resources. What happens when the other 2/3 tries to join the party like China and India have already begun to?

So, the logical thing it seems for us to do in a rapidly expanding global economy that requires lots of energy to create and sustain that expansion, is to find better ways of doing things that use less energy. But the trick is to accomplish this while increasing convenience, not decreasing it. The truth is that most of us are not willing to give up our conveniences unless there is no other choice. But who says we have to? We can work, live and be smarter if we know what steps to take and if it isn’t too much trouble. So, how do we do that now that we are realizing such rapid growth and energy demand in the now emerging markets that create necessity for change?

One way that seems to make a lot of sense is to begin a serious transition toward the elimination of paper communication technology. Paper is dead and rightfully so, it should be. We consume more energy creating, transporting and storing paper than is necessary in this day and age of accelerating digital electronic technology. Creating paper documents and media is senseless when everything we do that requires the written word can be so easily ported to a computer or an Amazon Kindle. Practically all media today begin as processed words on a computer. So why not leave it there and never print it physically? A great example of a forward thinking company employing paperless process technology is Wells Fargo Bank, an early adopter and innovator saving over $10 million per year in courier costs and the interesting truth is that they have still only scratched the surface to date. How much energy is tied into that $10 million? You can bet a lot.

Today, companies in America for example generate about 10,000 pages of documents per employee. Of all the talk coming from corporate heads committing to a greener more environmentally friendly way of practicing business, it is surprising that hardly any companies are committing to reducing physical document production activity. This is one area where a carbon reduction strategy can be applied that will actually pay for itself. Paperless automation is the name of the game and it is about time that we get it and begin making the change proactively. Does it still make sense to fly a 747 to ship a document from San Francisco to Tokyo or New York to be signed and executed for example when that same process can be done today for a fraction of the cost and with an extreme level of time efficiency. It’s not only the time and energy that it takes to send that document, but also, the preparation required to print that document and make it ready to send or the paper handling and tracking requirements. That aspect is a people intensive process that bears a significant additional cost that also needs to be considered.

Committing to using the internet to move documents and computers as devices that enable digital and or biometric signatures to take place seems to make a lot of sense to employ if we are in fact serious about reducing energy use and carbon emissions release activity. A U.S. based company that has laid much of the developmental groundwork for making the transition is called Communications Intelligence Corporation or CIC. Check them out. © Copyright Anthony T Toigo 2009

More than 15 billion pieces of paper mail are sent in the United States each month, at considerable cost both to senders and to the environment. Zumbox hopes to change all that with a new, paperless alternative to the U.S. Mail.

California-based Zumbox has created an online mailbox for every street address in the US, including residences and businesses alike. So, anyone in the country can begin using Zumbox immediately on the web to send and receive all-digital mail for free. Senders simply upload an electronic document—Word and PDF are both supported, as are interactive formats like HTML, Flash, audio and video—and specify the recipient’s street address. That mail then gets sent to the recipient’s Zumbox electronically. At the other end, recipients see an image of an envelope and click on it to open it. They’re then shown what looks like a duplicate version of what they’d normally find in their traditional mailbox.

Any content that can be printed can also be sent via Zumbox, including bills, statements, purchase orders, and other accounting documents, and senders can even incorporate a “Pay Now” button that links to the payment system of their choice. Zumbox has also implemented bank-level security, and is compliant with the security standards of the financial, healthcare, and banking industries. Analytics are available to help marketers track mailings and campaigns. Perhaps best of all, Zumbox relieves organizations interested in reducing their paper usage from the near-impossible task of gaining and updating recipients’ email addresses. Receiving mail via Zumbox is free for everyone. Advertisers and marketers must pay USD 0.05 per street address to send mail through the service, as must individuals who want to send mail to more than 50 addresses per month.

Zumbox launched into limited public beta last month, and it will clearly take time before significant numbers of users sign on. One also has to wonder what would stop consumers from using Zumbox just as a catch-all for the mail they don’t actually want to receive, keeping all those marketing offers and other “junk mail” out of their traditional mailboxes. Still, the paperless potential makes Zumbox an intriguing new contender. One to watch, try out, or get in on early…? (Related: Snail mail app for Facebook users — Send an email to post a letter — Free snail mail, sponsored by advertisers.)

Website: beta.zumbox.com
Contact: bizdev@zumbox.com

Original US-MAIL postkasse designet i 1915 af Mr. Roy J. Joroleman, samt en nutidig model.

Historien om US-Mail postkasser. 

I 1863, med oprettelsen af ”Free By Delivery” (Gratis ved levering), fra US POSTAL SERVICE ( USA postvæsen) begyndte man at levere post til hjemme adresser i USA. I løbet af det nittende og begyndelsen af det tyvende århundrede, bankede postmanden på døren og ventede tålmodigt på, at nogen skulle komme og åbne for at få posten udleveret. Effektivitets eksperter anslår, at hver postmand mistet 1,5 timer hver dag, ved blot at vente ved dørene.

Langsomt begyndte husejere og virksomheder at installere brevsprækker til at modtage post, når de enten ikke var hjemme eller ude af stand til at svare ved døren.

For at reducere den tid det tog for at aflevere posten især på landet, blev det foreslået at de enkelte boligers og erhvervsejendommes postkasser, skulle være monteret på passende standere eller andre støtter, når der var en vis afstand fra huset til vejen, især i landdistrikterne blev dette et krav. Før indførelsen af gratis ved levering i landdistrikterne (RFD),  fra det amerikanske postvæsen i og i Canada, havde mange beboerer i landdistrikter, enten ikke adgang til offentlige postomdeling, eller var nødt til at afhente deres post på et postkontor placeret mange miles fra deres hjem.

Postkasser blev ikke populær i Nordamerika før denne gratis service ved aflevering var etableret. Dengang var landbrugerne og husejere først meget imod at købe de dedikerede postkasser og man brugte ofte ofte tomme bushel kurve, dåser og kasser af træ, hvorfra man hentede sin post. Først i 1923 fik det amerikanske Postvæsen endeligt mandat til at enhver husstand skulle have en postkasse eller en brevsprække for at modtage posten i hjemmet eller virksomheden.

“Full-service” postkasser blev snart udstyret med et signal flag eller Semaforens arm – denne er normalt rød eller fluorescerende orange. Oprindeligt blev dette flag rejst af beboeren i ejendommen til at underrette postbudet at der var udgående post, men postbudet kunne også informere modtageren om at der var kommet post til dem, en stor hjælp til alle i perioder med hårdt vejr.

I 1915 blev den ikoniske amerikanske postkasse med sine buede, tunnel-forme top (for at forhindre vand og sne samling), den hængslede låge og signal flag designet af en ansat i det amerikanske postvæsen Mr. Roy J. Joroleman.

Joroleman konstruktion blev godkendt af det amerikanske Postvæsen, den har ligesiden været den mest top-sælgende amerikanske postkasse, den er især i vidt omfang blev brugt i landdistrikterne. Joroleman postkassen har både været ophøjede til den øverste manifestation af amerikanske funktionalistiske industrielt design, og nedgjodt af andre som en »Quonset hytte på en stok”.

I USA og Canada mest i landdistrikterne kan postkassen findes placeret enten enkeltvis eller i grupper på ejendommens grænser eller ved nærmeste vej / indkørsel eller vejkryds.

For at fremme ensartethed, samt have en nem og hurtig levering af post, har USA Post Department, (senere United States Postal Service, eller USPS) bevaret sin myndighed til at godkende størrelse og andre egenskaber ved alle postkasser, hvad enten det drejer sig om postkasser eller brevindkast til brug for levering af den amerikanske post, Godkendt postkasser fra sidstnævnte er altid stemplet med US Mail og godkendt af United States Postal Service. Disse standarder har resulteret i nogle undgåelige begrænsninger på produktdiversiteten og design, især med de nye materialer, former og funktioner, der er dukket op i de seneste år.

Nutidige Amerikanske postkasser kan ses på dette link : http://www.designprodukter.dk/shop/us-mail-17c1.html her er både den originale model i blank udførsel samt modeller i farverne sort, grøn og hvid.

kilde : www.designprodukter.dk copyright.

Couldn’t you even try to strive for excellence??

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BULK MAIL SERVICES AT UPS STORE

Bulk Mail is the term applied to mailings of 200 pieces or more that are sent at a discounted rate. This allows  to save a significant amount of money.  UPS STORE CHAMPLIN can help by preparing your mailing to move faster and more efficiently through the USPS system.

Mailings must meet a number of design and processing elements to qualify for bulk mail rates. To ensure your bulk mailing meets these requirements, contact UPS STORE CHAMPLIN early in the design stage of your bulk mailing to consult with a certified mail piece design experts. UPS STORE CHAMPLIN can also help in designing and printing .

In accordance with  regarding sensitive data, UPS STORE CHAMPLIN can securely accept your mail list electronically from the Web site.  This is the safest and easiest way to submit your list.

Available Services:

Folding
Folding is available from UPS STORE CHAMPLIN on automated folding equipment.

Inserting (Envelope Stuffing)
NOTE: Before you submit a request for folding and/or inserting, UPS STORE CHAMPLIN will be glad to look at sample pages and envelopes to determine if the materials can be processed on automated equipment. Suggestions can also be made for size and shape requirements to keep your mailing costs as low as possible.

Tabbing
UPS STORE CHAMPLIN provides application of tabs to the edges of a folded mail piece to be sent without an envelope (also referred to as a folded self-mailer). The USPS requires certain types of mailings to be tabbed in order to receive discounted rates.  Tabs help secure the piece and prevent damage in the mail stream.

Mailing List Processing
UPS STORE CHAMPLIN can also help their clients to provide accurate mailing lists. Clients can tell us which area ,which zip code or town. We will provide update mailing list with printing.

Addressing: Direct Ink-Jet Impressions
UPS STORE CHAMPLIN can print your addresses directly on mail pieces, eliminating the cost and appearance of hand-applied labels.  The direct impression is printed in presorted order  which reduces postage cost and helps pieces move through the USPS system faster.  In addition to ink-jetting the address on the piece, equipment can print the return address and permit imprint for postage–all in a single pass.

Final Mail Preparation
UPS STORE CHAMPLIN will prepare and deliver your mailing to the USPS according to requirements and complete all necessary documentation.

For more info contact:

The UPS STORE CHAMPLIN

11436 Marketplace Dr N

Champlin MN 55316

Tel:763.323.9090

Fax: 763.3239252

e-mail: store4654@theupsstore.com.

Open an Business Account at Neighborhood Parcel and save 10% off on all your shipping! USPS is no longer the cheapest option! Read Below, compliment of Ryan.

USPS Postal Rates Direct Mail & Postal With the US Postal Service announcing its rate increases for 2009, the agency and the mailing industry face an uncertain future.

“The USPS, facing a well-publi­cized $2.8 billion deficit this year and total mail volume decrease of 9 billion, said the rate increases will amount to a drop in the bucket toward solving the agency’s fis­cal woes. It also faces a cluttered marketplace where consumers and companies have growing options from e-mail and companies, such as Earth Class Mail and the recently launch Zumbox, which provide digitally delivered mail.

“It wouldn’t… have a whole lot of meaning,” said Stephen Kear­ney, SVP for customer relations at the USPS, when asked how much revenue the rate increases might raise for the USPS at a news conference last week.

The USPS is taking several steps to save money this year, including adjusting carrier routes to make them more efficient, freezing the salary of officers and executives, suspending post office construction, and reducing staff­ing through attrition and voluntary early retirement by 37,000, Kearney said.

The actual rate increases, which take effect May 11, include an average increase for Standard Mail Flats of 2.3% and an aver­age rate hike for carrier route flats of 4.3%. Standard rate parcels went up an average of 16%, and the cost of a First-Class stamp was raised two cents, to 44 cents.

The standard rate parcel increase will most affect mailers that send items weighing under a pound, such as apparel, or music items such as CD, said Jerry Cerasale, SVP for government affairs for the Direct Mar­keting Association.

Overall, Cerasale said that the DMA and other groups advocated for no rate increase, and he believes the further loss of mail vol­ume due to the increases may cancel out any additional revenue the USPS might see because of it.

“Historically, when [the Postal Service] raises rates, it gets more revenue, but times are changing,” he said. “They may still generate additional revenue, but it may be much less revenue than anticipated.”

The modest increase for Standard Mail Flats, the category affecting most catalogers, was largely seen as a victory for that indus­try. However, Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Mailer’s Associa­tion, said that victory was only minor.

“Our rates did not go down, the rates just increased by less than others did,” he said. “I’m appreciative of the Postal Service real­izing the fundamental issues that catalogers face. On the other hand, this hasn’t solved all the problems we are facing.”

Ideally, Davison said he would have liked to have seen “no increase for a couple of years,” and given the economy and cost of mailing, catalogers will have to continue to invest money in more cost-effective alterna­tive media.

“We’re going to continue to look at non-mail alternatives like e-mail, driving con­sumers to Web sites, and digital catalogs,” he said. “We are in the midst of a full-blown crisis for the mailing industry — however, it is addressable.”

The Congressional Government Account­ability Office (GAO) issued a report in late January with recommendation on how the USPS could reduce costs.

One option would be to reduce the USPS payment for retiree health benefits, which Postmaster General John Potter, in testi­mony before Congress, said could save the agency $2 billion this year. The agency is seeking Congressional approval to allow it to pay its share of retiree health benefits out of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund instead of its own pocket.

The GAO said another option was “to close unnecessary retail facilities and thereby reduce its large maintenance backlog.”

“USPS’s network of retail facilities has been largely static despite population shifts and changes in mailing behavior,” the GAO explained. “It is important to note that large [urban] retail facilities… generate much larger costs for the retail network than the smallest rural facilities and may therefore potentially generate more cost savings.”

Neighborhood Parcel: www.NeighborhoodParcel.com

Postmaster General John Potter says the massive deficits facing the post office could force the agency to cut out one day of mail delivery per week. Read More

UPDATE 30 JAN

You won’t believe what’s in that stimulus bill.

We’ve looked it over, and even we can’t quite believe it. There’s $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make “dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy.” Well, you be the judge. Read More

Getting kind of bad when the government thats trying to make more jobs is cutting work hours itself!  Obama you are one big laugh!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

What’s next? No electricity between 12 noon and 4 p.m.?

Postmaster General John E. Potter asked Congress to allow him to cut mail delivery from six days to five days a week.

In testimony prepared for a Senate hearing this afternoon, Potter said he needs “flexibility in the number of days we deliver mail.”

“The ability to suspend delivery on the lightest delivery days, for example, could save dollars in both our delivery and our processing and distribution networks, he said. “I do not make this request lightly, but I am forced to consider every option given the severity of our challenge.”

He said the cut in mail delivery would be no more than one day a week.

The last time we visited cutbacks to the mail service was during Saint Reagan’s tenure, when his unsubstaniated taxcuts blew a hole in the Federal budget and his economic team was left scrambling to try and stop the hemorrhaging.

In such an ironic twist, a Michigan mail carrier, Jill Hull has been hiding mail rather than delivering it.  This news story isn’t nearly as good without thinking about the sadistic laughter of Newman from the TV series Seinfeld.  Apparently Hull had been taking the mail, over 10,000 pieces of mail, and storing them in a rented storage locker instead of delivering them.  This is somewhat of a strange story, but what really amazed me when I started looking up information on this story is that Hull was not the only one to do this.  In fact, according to the U.S. Postal Service there were 333 “Newman” cases in 2008, in which the mail was stolen, delayed, or destroyed by employees, contractors or contractors.  So maybe the next time someone tells you the check is in the mail, they might be telling the truth.

They always manage to either screw up where they send my W2 or they screw up the refund check.

But if it’s a bill?  Well, holy crap, we’ll come to your work and shove it in your face.

Neighborhood Parcel can help you deflect these rate hikes! Simply open a business account and get up to 10% + off your shipping cost!

The USPS selected January 18th for the price change to the shipping services classes to be consistent with industry-wide practices. With the higher rates and additional surcharges of both the UPS and FedEx, which are effective in early January, the USPS price change will be competitive in the shipping services sector. With this price change, the USPS will still be positioned as the most cost-effective carrier for small packages.

Price changes for mailing services, including stamp prices, will be announced in February and will be effective in May 2009.

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Price Change Overview

• Prices will change on Sunday, January 18th, for Express Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Select, Parcel Return Service, and some international shipping products. Overall, shipping services prices will increase an average of 5 percent. The complete list of new prices is available at www.usps.com/prices.
• Customers using PC postage will save even more over retail with increased Commercial Base discounts. Commercial Base savings over retail will increase from 3% to 5% for Express Mail and from an average of 3.5% to an average of 4.7% for Priority Mail.
• The USPS has announced that they will offer three pricing platforms-Retail (Retail Price is the standard counter price for postage at the Post Office)
• The USPS is introducing a Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box, priced at $4.80, for domestic delivery. The box is the same price as the Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope, and at $4.80, they are the least expensive flat-rate package options. The box measures 8 5/8″ x 5 3/8″ x 1 5/8″, about the size of a video cassette. The box will also be available for international delivery, with a maximum weight of 4 pounds. It will cost $10.40 for delivery to Canada and Mexico and $12.30 for delivery to all other countries. As with all USPS flat-rate packaging, the new box is free to customers.
• Commercial volume rebates will be eliminated on January 18, 2009. Any rebate earned from January 1st – 17th will be credited to the qualifying mail owner’s account at the end of the quarter. Commercial Plus pricing and the increase in Commercial Base discounts are replacing the commercial volume rebate program.
• The average retail price increases per service are as follows:
  • Priority Mail: 3.9%
  • Express Mail: 5.7%
  • Parcel Select: 5.9%
  • Parcel Return Service: 5.3%
  • International Shipping: 8.5%
• Resisting the urge to follow UPS and FedEx, the USPS has announced that they will not add a fuel surcharge for 2009, which is a tremendous advantage for shippers using the USPS.

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Shipping Changes

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Priority Mail Pricing

On average, Priority Mail retail prices will increase by 3.9 percent, while Priority Mail Commercial Base prices will average 4.7 percent less than retail prices. Priority Mail Commercial Plus customers will save, on average, 7 percent from retail prices.

Neighborhood Parcel can help you save on shipping! We have the expertize to package and ship worldwide via a wide network of Carriers from UPS, DHL to Roadway freight. Our service portfolio is built around saving you time and money!