THURSDAY APRIL 30th, 2009

QUEBECOR WORLD RENEWS RODALE AGREEMENT
Quebecor World Inc. announced a multi-year renewal production agreement with Rodale Inc. Under this new agreement, Quebecor will print major portions of the Rodale trade and direct response book business, both hardcover and paperback. Quebecor will also print “bookazines” – a Rodale publication format that combines elements of magazine and book content distributed via newsstands.

 

Quebecor April business announcements also include an expansion of the Newsweek service relationship with a new agreement to print Budget Travel Magazine; and a $100-million multi-year agreement with Boardroom Inc. to print and distribute newsletters, books, and special reports. Learn more: www.quebecorworld.com

 

FPAC DELIVERS ACTION PLAN
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has delivered a five-point plan to save Canada’s forest industry. Avrim Lazar, FPAC President and CEO, writing in The Globe and Mail (Report on Business, April 27) says that providing safety nets and economic stimulus is part of the answer but there is more that governments can do – improve business conditions. Lazar acknowledges the provinces and the federal government have taken steps in the right direction. He wants an added sense of urgency to ensure many more thousands of jobs will not be needlessly lost. The FPAC plan includes offsetting U.S. pulp subsidies; modernizing provincial policies toward long-term economic growth; rewarding forest industry investment in innovation; creating competitive rail services; recognizing and offering greater incentives for green production efforts already underway. Learn more: www.fpac.ca

 

MINISTER TO CONSULT STAKEHOLDERS
Responding to questions posed in committee (Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities) the Honorable Rob Merrifield reportedly confirmed the report from the Canada Post Strategic Review Advisory Panel submitted in December 2008 has been reviewed and he is close to making it public. He is also committed to ensuring the stakeholders are consulted on the findings once the report is publicly available. NAMMU members welcomed the opportunity to participate in the important work of the panel and contribute to positive reform, and certainly look forward to examining the report and its recommendations.

 

RVU PROCESS CHANGES: REMINDER
Important dates are fast approaching for the recently implemented changes to the Canada Post receipt and verification process. The implementation of new technology is directed toward a more consistent and positive customer experience, reducing the amount of manual data entry required and eliminating the current mandatory hardcopy of the Mailing Summary. Mailers are reminded of the following requirements effective July 20:

 

it will be mandatory to upload the Mailing Plan into EST for LCP Addressed Admail and

LCP Publications Mail; it will be mandatory that container labels and tie-on tags for LCP Addressed Admail and LCP Publications Mail include a bar code and the associated human-readable data. NOTE: if your printer does not have the capability to produce a bar code, the human-readable data that is associated with the bar code content will be accepted without penalty until January 20, 2010.

Canada Post is sending a reminder of the changes and potential surcharges to contract holders this week. Learn more, click here:

Following the recent Toronto Chapter meeting, over thirty NAMMU members and invited guests, did a “virtual walk through” of the new RVU plant receiving process, hosted by Frank Chirichella, Director Serve Process Improvement. The logical progression through three stages: customer input; RVU receipt and acceptance logic using the new technology; final acceptance or CSN assignment; provided a practical, integrated demonstration that allowed mailers, VAM, and software developers to ask questions of clarification and make further suggestions for streamlining. Post-exit reviews said this run-through was not only appreciated but vital to smooth implementation and harmonized expectations of Canada Post and customers. Mailers with unresolved issues/concerns are invited to contact: executive@nammu.org

 

USPS SUMMER SALE
The Association for Postal Commerce (POSTCOM) reports the USPS idea that represents an innovative approach to using pricing freedoms to generate additional mail volume and revenue. The Board of Governors gave the proposal a green light and the USPS will file the proposed “summer sale” experiment with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The USPS goals for its proposed Standard Mail “summer sale” are to generate increased mail volume; stimulate economic growth; make more profitable use of excess mail capacity; learn from the marketplace’s responses if there are more innovative ways that can be employed to foster growth of new mail volume and revenue; actualize more concretely the pricing flexibility Congress intended to make available to the Postal Service through the 2006 postal reform law. If even modestly successful, it clearly would set a precedent on ways to offer other such proposals that could be marked by a greater level of complexity and improvement.

 

If the idea is accepted, the “summer mail sale” will take place from July 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009. The sale would take the form of credits applied to a participant’s mail permit account once the sale is over and certain requirements have been fulfilled. At present, the USPS is talking about a 30 per cent rebate of postage applied to summertime volumes that exceed an established threshold. To qualify, participating mailers are those that have mailed more than one million pieces between October 1, 2007 through March 31, 2008. About 75 per cent of all Standard Mail users would qualify – non-profit mailers would be entitled to participate as well. The Postal Service will look at each customer’s performance and reward growth on an individual mail owner basis, and thresholds will be unique to each mailer. Learn more: www.postcom.org

 

The NAMMU VAM and agency communities have already given this idea the “thumbs up” and support the idea for the Canadian market. This USPS idea and other opportunities are being tabled with Canada Post for business consideration.

 

LETTERTAINER PROTOTYPE PILOT
According to Performance (Spring 2009) an innovative new lettertainer which will singly replace the two sizes of containers used in CPC plants today, will be tested in a few sites across the country in May 2009. John Ulmer, Project Design Lead - new equipment, Postal Transformation, and his team have been working closely with suppliers to combine best-of-the-best design elements from postal administrations around the world. The result is an innovative new prototype that literally “pushes the envelope” in letter-container design. The May pilot will provide a hands-on trial for employees to use the new equipment and provide feedback before designs are finalized.