[press release]

U.S. Postal Service Expects to Deliver More than 15 Billion Pieces of Holiday Mail and Packages This Year
USPS to handle more than half a billion packages this season – 10.5 percent volume increase
WASHINGTON — The Postal Service expects to deliver a total of approximately 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats, and packages during the 2015 holiday season. In addition, they are projecting approximately 600 million packages will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, which is an increase of 10.5 percent over last year’s volume.

In time for the holidays, the Postal Service will offer real-time delivery notifications – meaning customers who sign up for alerts at myusps.com will receive notification within a few minutes of the delivery scan for select packages.

“Customers can count on the Postal Service and our more than 600,000 dedicated employees to deliver their holiday gifts, cards and letters,” said Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General and CEO. “We have been investing in our infrastructure including package sortation equipment, new delivery vehicles and scanning technology to expand our capacity, improve operating efficiency and provide real-time visibility.”

Additionally, the Postal Service plans to hire 30,000 employees for the 2015 holiday season to meet the needs of its customers.

Following the success of the 2014 holiday season, the Postal Service will again deliver packages seven days a week in select major cities and high-volume areas beginning Nov. 29, for the four Sundays before Christmas. They expect to deliver on average approximately 5 million packages every Sunday during December.

Busiest Mailing and Delivery Days
The Postal Service predicts that Monday, December 14, will be the busiest mailing and shipping day for holiday packages, letters and cards. The busiest mailing day also is expected to be the Postal Service’s busiest day online with more than 7 million customers predicted to visit usps.com.

Monday, December 21, is expected to be the busiest delivery day for holiday packages, cards and letters. The Postal Service anticipates that more than 30 million packages will be delivered on the peak delivery day alone.

Holiday Advertising Campaign
The Postal Service launched its advertising campaign this week, featuring direct mail, television and print advertisements, as well as social media and digital promotions.

The 2015 campaign stresses the reliability and value the Postal Service offers for both consumers and businesses during the holidays. In addition to real-time delivery notifications and enhanced tracking, other highlighted services include the ability to order free Priority Mail boxes and request free next-day Package Pickup.

2015 Christmas Shipping Deadlines
For delivery in anticipation of Christmas, the Postal Service recommends keeping the following mailing and shipping deadlines in mind:

• Nov. 7 – APO/FPO/DPO Standard Post
• Dec. 8 – Priority Mail Express International
• Dec. 15 – Standard Post
• Dec. 19 – First Class Mail
• Dec. 19 – Global Express Guaranteed
• Dec. 21 – Priority Mail
• Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express

[press release]
Canada Post ready for anticipated record-breaking parcel volume this holiday season

OTTAWA – With parcel volumes expected to hit record levels again this year, Canada Post is gearing up for its busiest season in history. The corporation has hired an additional 2,000 temporary workers, will again deliver on weekends in major urban centres starting in November and has doubled its capacity in transportation to deliver the holidays.

For the first half of the year, parcel volumes linked to e-commerce have grown 18% compared to the previous year and holiday-level parcel volumes were noted in the summer for the back-to-school season. During the months of November and December last year, Canada Post delivered more than 36 million parcels to Canadians.

Canada Post expects December 14th to be the busiest day of the year for delivery agents and retail stores across the country, with an anticipated 3,400 parcels delivered each minute while processing plants will peak a few days later (December 16th) with 1,500 parcels processed each minute.

Weekend deliveries
Starting in November, Canada Post will begin delivering parcels on weekends in major urban centres.

Seasonal workforce
More than 2,000 seasonal workers have been hired to complement the 49,000 delivery and processing employees.

Travelling and transportation
Each work day, Canada Post employees will travel some 1.5 million km delivering to 15.7 million addresses—a distance that would take a person to the moon and back twice.

Canada Post has also significantly increased its transportation network to ensure timely delivery.

About Canada Post
Canada Post is the country’s leading provider of electronic commerce and customer communication solutions. It reaches 15.7 million addresses, operates the country’s largest retail network, and offers affordable and reliable service with convenient pickup and return options for online shoppers. Together, Canada Post, Purolator Inc. and SCI Logistics offer market-leading end-to-end solutions for e-commerce shippers by leveraging the assets and expertise of the Canada Post Group of Companies.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when post offices make a special effort to sell the postage stamp that raises funds for research.

The stamp currently sells for 60 cents. The additional 11 cents over the first-class postal rate helps fund breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health and the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense. The stamp has raised $80.9 million for breast cancer research since its creation in 1998.

In September, the Senate called for the stamp to continue on sale through 2019. However, the House version of the bill appears stalled in committee.

The Carl Junction, Missouri, post office hopes to retain its crown as the top seller of the Breast Cancer Research semi-postal stamp. Last year, “CJ” sold more than $49,000 worth of BRC stamps.

The Nevada, Missouri, post office is taking the challenge. Postmaster Julie Mader says she used to work with Carl postmaster Sharon Clark in another town. Mader says it’s more than just a fun competition, because everyone knows someone who has had breast cancer — such as Clark.

At the Gulfport, Mississippi, post office, employees are wearing pink and handing out pink cupcakes, cookies and candy to boost BRC stamp sales.

According to WLOX-TV, Mississippi has been tops in BRC stamp sales for the past three years.

“It’s our opportunity to give back to something that everyone has been impacted by,” Gulfport Postmaster Larry Delahunt told the station. “I don’t think there’s anyone you know that hasn’t been impacted by someone with breast cancer, so it’s personal and dear to almost everyone, including here at the post office.”

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, as a U.S. Senator from Vermont, has paralyzed the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, according to Linn’s Stamp News Washington correspondent Bill McAllister: Angered by threats to reduce mail service, Sanders has blocked all the president’s nominations to the Board of Governors. The Board is down to three Governors, with two of those terms expiring in December. Its rules require that FOUR presidentially-appointed governors must be present in order to vote on anything.

Bill’s story in Linn’s is here.

It’s something many collectors want. So we put the question to Mary-Anne Penner, acting director of the U.S. Postal Service’s Stamp Services department. Hear her answer here.

Transcript:

“Yes, they’re possible. Are we going to go completely to a soakable stamp? I’m going to tell you know, because the cost is expensive. But I have reached out to both printers and we’re going to see what we can do. You know, maybe we can do one edition a year. Let’s see what happens. You know, you’ve got to give me some time. I need to get true facts; I don’t want to rush into anything, and I want to see what other people are doing, I mean, other countries.”

In a public forum with collectors, acting Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner was told that collectors need to be better educated about what stamps are available, and what collectors want when buying stamps. Penner replied that that is one of the top goals in 2016 for Lori Mazzone, who is now in charge of products and exhibitions for Stamp Services.

“We recognize the fact that training is needed,” Mazzone said. However, actual sales in post offices come under the Retail department, not Stamp Services. Penner says she is working with the VP in that area.

Penner also floated the possibilities of single-stamp sales and soakable stamps.

For the past year or so, post offices have been allowed to trade stamps with each other.

One of the first changes she made upon becoming acting director of Stamp Services, Mary-Anne Penner said, was dropping the phrase “limited edition” from marketing and promotion for USPS philatelic products. To her, a “limited edition” is in small quantities and probably sequentially numbered.

“We need to have stamps that we can sell singly, and there will be [some] in 2016,” said acting U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner in a public forum with collectors at APS StampShow 2015 in Grand Rapids.

In a public forum with collectors, acting Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner said her department is looking at producing more soakable stamps. The collectors applauded. She cautioned that it won’t be every issue, and there won’t be huge numbers of these stamps.

In a public forum with collectors, acting Stamp Services chief Mary-Anne Penner revealed that the USPS now only works with two “security” printers: Sennett and Ashton-Potter. CCL is no longer one of the contractors for stamp printing.

[press release]
Canada Post Proposes 2016 Postage Rates

Canada Post is proposing to increase postage rates in 2016 as declining mail volumes continue to have a significant impact on its financial situation.

Canada Post proposes to increase the postage rate for Domestic Lettermail^TM items weighing 30 grams or less when purchased in a booklet, coil or pane to $0.90 from the current rate of $0.85. The price of a single stamp would remain $1.00. The rate change would take effect on January 11, 2016 and replace rates that will have been in effect for 21 months.

Lettermail volumes have been declining for almost a decade. In 2014, Canada Post delivered 1.4 billion fewer pieces of Domestic Lettermail than in the peak year of 2006. Some of the biggest declines have occurred in 2015, accelerating the erosion of Canada Post’s core business. As mail volumes fall, the number of addresses served also rises every year, affecting Canada Post’s cost of doing business.

The Corporation is taking every action necessary to secure postal service for all Canadians and to avoid becoming a drain on taxpayers. It is proposing these new postage rates to help achieve its long-standing mandate of remaining financially self-sufficient.

Canada Post estimates the average Canadian household purchases fewer than two stamps a month, while the typical small business purchases fewer than 250 stamps per year.

Canadians can avoid the cost increase by purchasing Permanent^TM stamps at the current rate of $0.85 in advance of the proposed rate changes coming into effect. Permanent or “P” stamps always retain their value and are valid postage regardless of when they were purchased.

Canada Post is also proposing to increase rates for other domestic Lettermail, U.S. and international Letter-post items and Domestic Registered Mail^TM.

The rate changes are one of several actions the Corporation is taking to achieve financial self-sufficiency. In December 2013, Canada Post announced its Five-point Action Plan to transform its business and preserve postal service for all Canadians. As part of the Plan, Canada Post introduced a new tiered pricing structure for Domestic Lettermail that provided discounts to customers who purchase stamps in booklets, coils or panes.

The current proposals were published July 11, 2015 in the Canada Gazette Part I.