Businesses tossing junk mail for more direct marketing

Businesses tossing junk mail for more direct marketing | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle: "According to Borrell numbers, direct mail spending by marketers is expected to drop from $49.7 billion in 2008 to $29.8 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, e-mail advertising by small local businesses is expected to grow from $848 million last year to $2 billion in 2013."

Rising costs make mass mailing efforts less popular

Rising costs make mass mailing efforts less popular: "with postal costs having climbed about 30 percent during the past decade and with people paying more attention to electronic mail than paper, the direct-mail industry is undergoing a transformation. The deep recession has only exacerbated a two-year decline in business"

Postal Service Pursues Hassle-Free Consolidations

Dead Tree Edition: Postal Service Pursues Hassle-Free Consolidations: "By shifting some mail handling from the Bronx to Manhattan recently, the U.S. Postal Service did an end run around union opposition and Congressional interference. Postal officials are increasingly using similar tactics around the country to bring about much-needed consolidation of their dropship network without stirring up local opposition."

Rasmussen Reports: 74% Say $1 Postage Stamp Likely in Next 10 Years

Rasmussen Reports: "Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans say it is at least somewhat likely that the price of a first class postage stamp will be $1 or more within the next 10 years. Forty-six percent (46%) say it’s Very Likely."

Postal Worker Pleads Guilty to Weapons Charge

Postal Worker Pleas In Weapons Case - An employee at the U.S. Post Office in Hamilton pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of owning firearms despite a past felony conviction and selling two weapons to an undercover officer

Slidell postal worker guilty in theft of mail

2theadvocate.com | News | Slidell postal worker guilty in theft of mail — Baton Rouge, LA: "Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans accused William E. Boone, 53, of stealing a mail package containing a cell phone and charger worth $585 on May 22, 2008, according to an unsigned factual basis."

U.S. Postal Service proposes consolidations

U.S. Postal Service proposes consolidations: "The U.S. Postal Service is proposing consolidating some of its services, mainly moving Utica, Watertown and Binghamton's process of sorting outgoing mail to Syracuse"

NPF: USPS financial situation drives morning panel

NPF: USPS financial situation drives morning panel - DMNews: "The panel also discussed the proposal of a five-day delivery week, which would be intended to counteract the drop in mail volume. In 2000, the USPS delivered an average of six pieces to each house per day, but, by 2020, it projects that number will drop to four pieces per house. Donahoe said it is possible that, after the shift, post offices would remain open on weekends and may even deliver packages. He said that the USPS is seeking more input from clients before it makes any decisions."

Charity beats mail carriers to donations

Charity beats mail carriers to donations - The Denver Post: "The donation bags were labeled for the Postal Service's Stamp Out Hunger Day, but that didn't deter arc Thrift Stores workers who apparently made the rounds before the mail carriers."

Raw deal: Pennsylvania artwork now under U.S. Postal Service copyright

Raw deal: Pennsylvania artwork now under U.S. Postal Service copyright - Midstate Editorials | Our Views and Yours with The Patriot-News: "From 1934 to 1943, American taxpayers funded paintings and sculptures in post offices as part of FDR's New Deal.

The goal was to boost morale and, in the words of FDR, have artists 'paint their own kind in their own country.'
It was everyday man's art on display not in high-brow galleries, but in that central artery of so many communities: the local post office.

For about $1 million at the time, the nation gained more than 1,000 works of art that many today dub as priceless.

But over the course of the last few years, these valuable works of art quietly became the property not of the taxpayers, but of the U.S. Postal Service."