MONDAY AUGUST 8, 2005
MAY THE BEST MAIL WIN!
The NAMMU 2005 Awards ceremony will acknowledge
and celebrate the winners in grand style, November 2nd, 6:00
p.m. at the DESIGN EXCHANGE. Early Bird entry close deadline is
coming soon: August 25th, final call for entry deadline: October
5th. Awards event tickets on sale now. Good news for DMAT
members: you can access NAMMU member rates on campaign entries
and Awards tickets.
Click here to download your entry forms and order your tickets
now. Black tie – preferred. White knuckles – optional. The
NAMMU Awards annually celebrate and reward excellence in the
dominant use of the mail channel.
IMPACT 2006
The NAMMU Mailing Industry Forum: IMPACT 2006
will be held Thursday, August 25th, at the Metropolitan Hotel,
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Discussion leaders will provide focus on
any and all issues relevant to building increased understanding,
collaboration, and business success with our largest strategic
partner: Canada Post Corporation. Pre-registration by August
23rd is a must. Read more and register:
click here
IBM ACQUIRES DWL
IBM has announced an agreement to take over DWL
Inc., a privately held provider of customer data management
software, based in Atlanta and Toronto. The acquisition is
subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions,
and is expected to finalise later this year. DWL has 148
employees, of whom132 are based in Toronto - largely development
staff and coders working on the company’s Java-based platform.
IBM previously had a strategic relationship with DWL. The
acquisition strengthens IBM’s information management software
portfolio. DWL is a leading provider of customer data
integration middleware which helps companies provide a single
integrated view of prospect and customer information, spread
across multiple product and business silos. Customers include
banks, insurance companies, retailers, and manufacturers.
REGAL IN RECEIVERSHIP
Regal Greetings & Gifts, the Toronto-based
catalogue gift company that has been a Canadian institution for
more than 75 years, announced it has gone into receivership,
throwing dozens of staff and hundreds of contracted sales
representatives across the country out of work. The 43 sales
centres across Canada are apparently closed, with notices posted
from the receiver Deloitte & Touche. A Canadian website
acknowledges no information is currently available on orders,
and customer service has been suspended until further notice.
QUEBEC CITY PLANT CLOSING
Canada Post announced its intention to
transfer the processing of Lettermail and Admail from Quebec
City to Montreal, allowing the Corporation to maximize its
operations and improve service performance. According to Michel
Diotte, Vice-President of Regional Operations, approximately 70
per cent of this mail is already being sent to Montreal after
first being sorted in Quebec City. The transfer of this mail to
Montreal will be phased in over a 24-month period. Canada Post
has reassured its employees that no regular employees would lose
their jobs as a result of this change.
NEW CEO ADDRESSES LIBRARY BOOK RATES CONTROVERSY
The new President and CEO of Canada Post, Ms.
Moya Greene, was quick to review and address the growing
controversy over proposed significant rate increases – as much
as 700 per cent – to the mailing rates of books sent through
inter-library loans. In a letter sent to the Canadian Library
Association in July, she stated the Corporation has no intention
of acting unilaterally, and that nothing will be done without
the agreement of the Corporation’s shareholder, the government
of Canada.
The cost of
mailing books requested through inter-library loans has been
subject to a subsidy since 1939. In recent years, the subsidy
has been linked to a larger agreement between Canada Post and
the Department of Canadian Heritage, involving mailing costs for
the magazine industry. A move to full commercial rates would
reportedly increase the cost of the average book mailed by
inter-library loan from 68 cents to $4.88
