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Pitney Bowes Misses Earnings Estimates; Cuts Dividend

Written by Alan Robinson on April 30, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Pitney Bowes has announced earnings of 42¢ per share for the 1st quarter of 2013. Earnings were 2¢ per share below analyst’s estimates. In a seperate press release Pitney Bowes declared a dividend of 18.75 cents per share for the Company’s common stock. 13. The dividend declared is half of what Pitney Bowes had paid over the previous five quarters. In a statement included in the earnings announcement resident and Chief Executive Officer, Marc Lautenbach, commented, “We are taking a number of actions in support of the long-term health and growth of our business. While the results for the quarter were mixed, we are seeing progress in key elements [...] Read more »

Understanding Why Service Quality Affects The Future of the Postal Service

Written by Alan Robinson on July 7, 2012 · Leave a Comment

The New York Times yesterday reported on the problems that mailers are having with service the Postal Service provides to business mailers using First, Standard and Periodical Mail offerings. The article notes that these problems have existed for some time and mailers are finally realizing that changes in the network that the Postal Service is now implementing will force them to change decisions where they print, prepare, and deposit mail with the Postal Service and more troubling for the future of the Postal Service whether they mail at all. The New York Times story included the following excerpt from the post “Is Poor Service Causing the USPS to lose Standard Mail [...] Read more »

J.P Morgan Indicates that USPS Service Standard Changes Will Reduce Business Working Capital

Written by Alan Robinson on June 25, 2012 · 6 Comments

In a note to clients, J.P Morgan notes that the coming changes in Postal Service Service Standards could have a negative impact on the financial health of American businesses. With the reduction in locations and mail carriers, invoices may take one to two days longer to reach your customers, while, simultaneously, customer payments will also take longer to collect. The result: an increase on Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) — and a potential increase in your company’s working capital. Specifically, the receivables cycle and DSO may increase by two to four days, while the volume of delinquent customer payments may also increase. Current estimates of the financial impact of these changes [...] Read more »

Senate Appropriations Committee Actions Could Slow USPS Actions

Written by Alan Robinson on June 15, 2012 · Leave a Comment

The Washington Post has reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the finance and general government appropriations bill that 1) retained maintained the requirement that the Postal Service provide 6-day delivery and 2) prohibited the Postal Service from close small post offices in FY 2013 and prohibited closure of mail processing facilities before 2014 and not until a study by the USPS Inspector General. The appropriations bill sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) and raised objections from Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who argued that the Appropriations Committee action effectively picked apart S.1789, a bill that she cosponsored, which the Senate had recently passed. The Associated Press reports the Senate [...] Read more »

Overnight Single-Piece First Class Mail Ends July 1; Could be a Problem for Billers and Consumers

Written by Alan Robinson on June 4, 2012 · 10 Comments

Corrections have been made to this post to reflect the fact that the presort requirement for overnight First Class Mail does not become effective until February 1, 2012. The most noticeable changes on July 1, 2012 will be for mail that originates and destinates at different mail processing facilities. This mail will either see its delivery standard increase from 1 to 2 or 3 days, remain at 2 days, or increase from 2 to 3 days. While mailers should be able to identify service changes by origin destination pairs, households and small businesses are unlikely to understand what is changing until it affects the timeliness of the mail they send. Also [...] Read more »

Separation Incentives for Postmasters and Other Postal Employees

Written by Alan Robinson on May 14, 2012 · 6 Comments

This week the Postal Service announced an early retirement incentives for Postmasters as part of its restructuring of rural retail service. This announcement will likely be the first of a set of early retirement incentive announcements that the Postal Service that the Postal Service makes in the next few weeks as it follows through with its plans to restructure First Class mail service standards and plant operating plans. Expected Announcements of Operating Changes and Facility Closures The Postal Service will announce on Thursday, May 17th, its plans for operating plan changes and facility closures that will occur this summer. The Federal Times has reported that in a press conference held [...] Read more »

S.1789 Is Unlikely To Save Overnight First Class Mail As We Know It

Written by Alan Robinson on April 27, 2012 · 1 Comment

Section 201 of S.1789, The 21st Century Postal Reform Act, purports to save overnight delivery. However, a closer look at the language of this section of the bill shows that an overnight delivery commitment will truly be available to fewer customers than most members of the Senate think. In particular, First Class single-piece mailers will see little benefit from the delivery standard provisions in S.1789 that were designed to ensure overnight service as they are unlikely to tender their mail to the Postal Service before the critical entry time required to ensure delivery overnight. The Geographic Reach of Overnight Service is Now Significantly Less The current S.1789 limits next day service to [...] Read more »

eBay Reminds Sellers USPS First Class Parcels is Not an Expedited Service

Written by Alan Robinson on April 24, 2012 · 2 Comments

Today, eBay reminded its sellers that beginning the first of May it will reclassify USPS First Class Mail delivery as a standard service in all listings that state that First Class mail is the delivery method. eBay first announced this move in February and described the change as a way to set “the right buyer expectation regarding USPS First-Class service.” The timing eBay’s move corresponds with the Postal Service’s expected implementation of new slower service standards for First Class Parcels. Why eBay Says it’s Making the Change Ebay identified two reasons for making this change 1) In general, buyers do not perceive USPS First-Class as an expedited service. Packages don’t [...] Read more »

How the USPS Financial Problems Look from Overseas and the Advertising Biz

Written by Alan Robinson on April 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment

The challenges facing the Postal Service is a global story. A recent blog post on The Safe Shop’s blog leaves the impression that the Postal Service’s business strategy will make mail a less attractive option than it now is compared to either courier or electronic delivery. While this blog will not likely have much impact on decisionmaking of U.S. mailers, the tone of the post suggests that the cost-cutting focused strategy has left an impression that printed-delivery of communications by the Postal Service will be less effective in the future. It is no wonder that mailers are actively expanding their use of alternative print-delivery networks and accelerating their switch to electronic [...] Read more »

Impact of the USPS Consolidation on the Mailing Industry

Written by Alan Robinson on February 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Now that consolidation of the Postal Service’s operation network is public, mailers can now shift their attention from the impact of consolidation on service standards and a generic understanding of the USPS operation plan to how they change how print and prepare, and receive their mail to take advantage of the Postal Service’s new network. Based on presentations made at various public meetings concerning individual plants and public presentations made by the Postal Service, these are the questions that mailers need to think about as they make decisions about how they print and prepare their mail after consolidation goes into effect. Does printing and preparing mail in house still make sense? If [...] Read more »