Canada Post navigates new world
from The Times Colonist
by Tim Shufelt
Last summer, an impasse in labour negotiations led him to lock out 48,000 workers, resulting in the first Canada Post labour disruption in 16 years. The episode fed the popular perception of Canada Post's decline to irrelevance as it succumbs to forces making traditional mail obsolete.
Greatly exaggerated, counters Deepak Chopra. "There's a wonderful opportunity shaping up," he said, in laying out the makings of a major transformation at Canada Post. "But we have to shape up for it. I can see in the end a viable, healthy, vibrant company. To get there, we have to go through some adjustments. It's a race against time."
He envisions a model in which digital offerings complement physical delivery through Canada Post's vast network spanning the country. "Get ready for this next bull run," he said. "It's called e-commerce."
CONTINUE>>>
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February 6, 2012
New Postage To Spotlight Artists With Autism
February 2, 2012
Canada Post issues stamp honouring human rights pioneer Viola Desmond
Desmond, an African-Canadian beauty salon owner from Halifax, was arrested on Nov. 8, 1946, for sitting in a whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow.
Unaware the theatre only sold main floor tickets to white people, Desmond refused to move to the balcony. She was dragged out of the theatre and taken to a local jail where she spent the night.
Desmond was tried without counsel and convicted of defrauding the province of the additional one-cent tax on seats in the whites-only section. She was also fined $20.
Desmond later unsuccessfully fought the charge.
February 6, 2012
New Postage To Spotlight Artists With Autism
from Disability Scoop
by Michelle Diament
The work of eight artists with autism from around the world will be emblazoned on a series of postage stamps launching in April in honor of World Autism Awareness Day.
The United Nations Postal Administration will issue eight autism awareness stamps starting April 2. (Courtesy: U.N. Postal Administration)
The stamps will be issued by the United Nations Postal Administration starting April 2 and will be available at U.N. offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna. The postage is valid for mailing correspondence from any U.N. location globally.
Each year the U.N. Postal Administration issues stamps to call attention to seven different causes that are important to member nations. This is the first time that the U.N. will offer stamps to highlight autism awareness. In addition, the agency plans to release stamps this year focusing on endangered species, the environment and other issues.
Artwork for the stamps was solicited from artists with autism around the globe. The eight winners include five from the United States.
“It was an extremely difficult and challenging process to choose only eight designs from all of the artwork submitted,” said Rorie Katz, creative director for the U.N. Postal Administration. “All of us were personally touched by the stories of the artists and their families who are extremely passionate and supportive about raising awareness for autism.”
Winning designs feature everything from flowers to geometrics. Different stamps will be issued in New York, Geneva and Vienna, with two designs included on each sheet of 20 stamps, according to the U.N. Postal Administration.
Officials say they expect to make about 1 million of the autism stamps available to the public.
______________________________________________________________February 2, 2012
Canada Post issues stamp honouring human rights pioneer Viola Desmond
from Cape Breton Post
by Erin Pottie
A commemorative stamp featuring a portrait of the late Viola Desmond was unveiled Wednesday at an ceremony in Halifax.
Desmond, an African-Canadian beauty salon owner from Halifax, was arrested on Nov. 8, 1946, for sitting in a whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow.
Unaware the theatre only sold main floor tickets to white people, Desmond refused to move to the balcony. She was dragged out of the theatre and taken to a local jail where she spent the night.
Desmond was tried without counsel and convicted of defrauding the province of the additional one-cent tax on seats in the whites-only section. She was also fined $20.
Desmond later unsuccessfully fought the charge.
CONTINUE>>>
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January 31, 2012
Canada Post and love: A match made in postal heaven
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January 24, 2012
Fear of mass post office closures averted as Royal Mail agrees 10 year lifeline
from The Telegraph
by Christopher Hope
Royal Mail has agreed a 10-year deal to keep using post offices to sell stamps and handle parcels after the company is broken up at privatisation.
The deal is a relief to campaigners who had feared that Royal Mail would have been free to stop using the post office network once it was spun off as a private company.
January 31, 2012
Canada Post and love: A match made in postal heaven
from Canada Newswire
Cards, wedding invites worldwide sent via Love, Sask. or St-Valentin, Que. post offices to get special cancel
OTTAWA, Jan. 31, 2012 /CNW/ - Whether it's a Valentine's Day card or wedding invitations, two very special post offices see an influx of mail at this time of year. The Love (Saskatchewan) and St-Valentin (Quebec) post offices, because of their aptly named towns, will cancel twice as much mail as usual over the coming weeks, with a special cancel designed for the romantic at heart. Already, mail is coming in from across Canada and also from countries such as China, Japan, Hungary, United States, Switzerland and France.
Love (SK): With a name like "Love" it is difficult not to make the link with Valentine's Day or any romantic gestures. While the post office has been serving the community since 1935, it was in 1984 that the first cancel was created. The village is home to about 100 residents and local postmistress Connie Black-Sturby is in her first year as postmistress.
St-Valentin (QC): Canada Post's love story with the municipality of Saint-Valentin goes back to February 1994 when a special cancel was first created for this post office. Each year, this little post office serving about 500 residents sees thousands of mail items coming through for local, provincial, national and international destinations.
For those who would like to obtain the special cancel on time for Valentine's Day, send your addressed card and affix postage. Place it in a larger envelope (with proper postage) and send to:
| Liliane Baribeau, Postmaster | Connie Black-Sturby, Postmaster | ||||||
| Canada Post, Saint-Valentin | Canada Post, Love | ||||||
| 790 4E LIGNE ST | LOVE SK S0J 1P0 | ||||||
| SAINT-VALENTIN QC | |||||||
| J0J 2E0 CONTINUE>>> |
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January 24, 2012
Fear of mass post office closures averted as Royal Mail agrees 10 year lifeline
from The Telegraph
by Christopher Hope
Royal Mail has agreed a 10-year deal to keep using post offices to sell stamps and handle parcels after the company is broken up at privatisation.
That would have jeopardised thousands of post offices which rely on Government subsidy and Royal Mail’s work to stay in business.
The new “inter-business agreement”, which starts on April 1, is twice as long as had been thought, and as been agreed with lawyers for Royal Mail and the Government.
Ed Davey, the Post Office minister, said the agreement meant that the future of the post office had been “secured”.
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January 13, 2012
Post offices in Beijing selling train tickets
from China Daily
by Quan Li
Twenty-four post offices in Beijing began selling train tickets, providing another way to buy tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush, Beijing Times reported Friday.
The 24 offices will stay open until 10 pm every night, four hours longer than other ticket agents, said Wang Xiaodong, vice-general manager of Beijing Post Co.
The new ticket outlets, most of which are located in the city’s suburbs, are expected to help migrant workers during the peak travel time, Wang said, as many of them live in suburban areas and don’t know how to use a computer or have no Internet access to book tickets online.
Migrant workers’ difficulty in getting train tickets during the Spring Festival period was brought into the media spotlight when Huang Qinghong, a migrant worker from Chongqing, slammed the online ticket booking system in an open letter to the Ministry of Railways after he failed to get a ticket after waiting in line for days at the railway station.
Post offices in Beijing also sell air tickets and concert tickets, Wang said, and they also provide information about flights through a messaging service.
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January 5, 2012
January 4, 2012
Chinese Year of the Dragon stamp deemed too ferocious
from NPR
by Bill Chappell
December 27, 2011
Postal chiefs unveil the official stamps of the London 2012 Olympic Games
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December 23, 2011
Post offices transform into Santa's village
from Hacinema
Marking its seventh year, Korea Post is running 'Santa Post Office of Love'
at several post offices in Korea from December 12 to the end of the month.
A total of nine post offices including Seoul Central Post Office, post offices in such cities as Uijeongbu, Changwon, and Gongju are decorating their buildings with Christmas ornaments.
On December 22, nearly 100 Santa postmen from all around the nation gathered at the Seoul Central Post Office along with several important figures including the Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Seok-woo and president of Korea Post Kim Myung-ryong for a welcoming ceremony.
The Santa Post Offices are decorated with the theme of Santa's Village and employees at the office all welcome customers with wearing Santa costumes. Children can take pictures with Santa Claus at the post office and receive a special stamp with Santa or other Christmas symbols.
The Santa postmen wearing Santa costumes deliver packages during the duration of the event and also bring gifts such as rice, stationery, and household items to the needy.
The participating post offices are also holding temporary events including writing a letter of hope, a small concert for needy teenagers, a magic show, and a stamp exhibition. Volunteer events are also hosted by the Santa postmen such as visits to welfare centers and flea markets for fundraising.
Uijeongbu Post Office and Gongju Post Office are hosting a time machine event. Those who want to receive a letter on the same day next year can drop it off at those post offices. The event allows participants to write their New Year's resolutions and send them to themselves a year in the future.
By Jessica Seoyoung Choi
Korea.net Staff Writer
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December 22, 2011
Job in a Million
from The British Postal Museum & Archive
Today’s episode of The Peoples Post focused on the life of postal workers in the 1930s. Included were extracts from the film Job in a Million, made in 1937 by the GPO Film Unit.
The paternalist air of Job in a Million seems patronising to us today, but it reflected the public service ethos of the time. As well as boys and men, girls, women and disabled people were all employed in large numbers by the Post Office, particularly during and after the First and Second World Wars.
At the start of the First World War the Post Office was once of the largest
employers in the world (employing 249,606 people), and in 1934 it was the second
largest employer in Britain (employing 227,882 people). Even today Royal Mail
Group employs 185,602 people, putting it amongst the UK’s largest employers.
December 14, 2011
Names of China's secret spacemen -- and women -- "uncovered" by collectible
from collectSPACE
December 7, 2011 — Could a collectible have just outed the names of China's second group of astronauts?
That is the conclusion reached by two international space observers, who found an offer for a postmarked envelope – or "philatelic cover," as collectors refer to it – signed by seven Chinese pilots. The group included two women, one of whom may soon become China's first female astronaut, or "taikonaut," to reach space.
"The names of the military pilots selected in 2010 to form China's second group of taikonauts – which have been a closely guarded secret for the last 18 months – appear to have been released [as the result of] a possible philatelic blunder," said Tony Quine, an Isle of Man-based space memorabilia collector and contributing writer for the British Interplanetary Society's "Spaceflight" magazine.
CONTINUE>>>
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December 12, 2011
Post worker risks life to hide money from robbers
from RT
In a brave and selfless gesture, a post office worker in Moscow has fended off armed robbers attempting to make away with a million rubles ($30,000), ensuring local pensioners will not go without as winter bites.
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December 2, 2011
Postcards sent from outer space
from China Daily
BEIJING - Think getting a letter from the other side of the globe is cool? Imagine getting one from space.
In a new marketing ploy by China's postal service, people can write letters that will be sent digitally to the Tiangong-1 space lab. From a special e-mail box onboard, the letter will be sent back to Earth and then delivered to the receiver in printed form.
November 30, 2011
A ticket to Bali with your stamps: Australia Post set to open travel agencies
from news.com.au
AUSTRALIANS will be able to buy a stamp and a trip to Bali at the same time with travel agencies to open in Australia Post offices around the country.
The outlets already offer a range of travel services including passport applications, international sim cards, foreign currency and travel guides.
Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour said there was a boom in Australians travelling overseas thanks to the strong dollar and it was the perfect time to launch the new services, which would be a "one-stop-shop'' for travellers.
"People don't have a lot of time to run around,'' he said.
"By the time you go on your holiday you really need it to get over all the organising.
"The idea is to be able to do all of the things you need in the one place.
"We're trying to bundle things to make it easier for people.''
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November 23, 2011
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November 23, 2011
Cuba to overhaul postal service
from Fox News Latino
Havana – Cuba's postal service will become a state-owned corporate group next year bent on modernizing its administraton and seeking greater efficiency and quality as part of President Raul Castro's effort to "modernize" the island's socialist economic model.
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November 18, 2011
After 28-year pay-equity fight, female postal workers awarded $150-million
from The National Post
by Kathryn May
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada settled Thursday an epic pay-equity battle, reinstating a $150-million award for thousands of women employed at Canada Post.
The case, which has dragged on for 28 years, was finally resolved when the court upheld a 2005 decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that found a wage gap for women working in clerical jobs and awarded them $150-million.
“We are thrilled,” Patty Ducharme, executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said following the court decision.
CONTINUE>>>
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November 17, 2011
Christmas Island post office bustles on account of popular postmark
from The Winnipeg Free Press
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, N.S. - An appropriately named post office in Cape Breton will be akin to Santa's workshop in the coming weeks.
Every holiday season, Canada Post's Christmas Island office receives thousands of cards and packages seeking to be stamped with its unique postmark.
"It's like a little smile in the mail. ... It's a little extra touch on the card to make it a little extra special," said Christmas Island postmistress Hughena MacKinnon.
Equipped with a wreath, ball ornaments and bow, the Christmas Island postmark is stamped in either red or green ink, depending upon the colour of your envelope or package.
"We receive mail from all over Canada, from the States, we have lots from Europe, and some from Asia," said MacKinnon, who has worked in the tiny rural office for 13 years. "You never know what you're going to see in the run of a day here."
CONTINUE>>>
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November 4, 2011
China opens first 'space post office'
from CNN
To celebrate Thursday's docking of the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft with space lab module Tiangong-1, China's post authority has opened a new branch office outside the country and out of this world -- 343 kilometers above the Earth, to be exact.
Opening for business yesterday, the China Post Space Office has two venues -- one on-the-ground base inside the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACCC) and one "virtual office" aboard the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft.
There is also a new designated post code -- 901001.
China Post Group’s general manager Li Guohua told China Daily the post office will be able to deliver mail from the public to astronauts in future.
The office will also issue postal souvenirs that depict China's major astronautic events, such as stamps and envelopes.
We weren't exactly sure what a virtual space post office was or how it all worked, so we made some calls. We left the 'why send mail to space when you can email or Skype chat' question for another day.
According to staff at the BACCC post office (which houses the worldly version of the space post office) the new branch handles normal postal as well as courier services.
All mail going through the BACCC office will be chopped with a special postmark showing the date in numerals, and “Beijing” and “Space” in simplified Chinese.
Philatelic fans can also send a letter to themselves to obtain the postmark by providing an extra envelope with sufficient return stamps (RMB 0.8 from Beijing, RMB 1.2 from other Chinese cities) and an address.
Beijing News reported Shenzhou-8 had in its payload three postcards to space this trip.
According to the report, it is possible the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft, expected to launch in 2012, will take stamps and letters from the public into the final frontier.
And what sort of mail might be carried?
“For example, [people] can send us their wedding photos or vows to travel to space with the spacecraft. After [the spacecraft] brings them back, the space post office will mail them back to the owners on the agreed date,” an anonymous manager at Beijing Haidian post office told Beijing News.
The authority is yet to announce the price for mailing to space.
China Post Space Office is affiliated to China Post Group, and is headed by Yang Liwei (杨利伟), the country's first space-traveling astronaut.
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October 31, 2011
Japanese hometown (Furusato / prefecture) stamps
from The Stamp Collecting Blog
Carrying on with the topic of Japanese postage stamps, I’m heading towards the prefecture stamps (also known as as Furusato or hometown stamps). These are best described as kind of local governement stamps. Depending on the catalog these are listed either as separate section (Scott), in appendix (Stanley Gibbons), or mixed with regular national stamp issues (Michel).
So why the name? Japan is divided into multiple levels of political subdivisions; one of which is called prefectures. Since 1989 the Japanese postal administration has issued stamps for various prefectures. These stamps have been issued in the prefecture named on the stamp, as well as on all other prefectures in the same postal region (for example Shikoku postal region has jurisdiction over prefectures of Ehime , Kagawa , Tokushima , Kochi).
Additionally these stamps have been available to all through the Central Post Office in Tokyo and philatelic new issue service, so these are not strictly speaking locals. Prefecture stamps are valid for postage throughout Japan, and they can be used for international mailings too.
To continue reading and to see pictures, click here.
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September 20, 2011
Coventry sees postal workers' bikes replaced by trolleys
from The Coventry Telegraph
THE TRADITIONAL sight of a postie on a bike is to vanish in much of Coventry over the next few weeks.
Royal Mail bosses are replacing them with ‘‘high capacity trolleys’’ as part of a safety drive.
It’s the end of an era. For decades most letters and parcels used to be delivered on two wheels.
But over the coming weeks, bikes and post bags will cease to be used in the north of the city following a national agreement on changes to delivery methods.
The new trolleys make it easier for postmen to carry heavy packages around.
The agreement also means that post will be delivered for a longer time during the day and routes could be changed.
But the changes will only take place in the north of the city for the time being, as staff in the south have so far refused to agree to the changes.
CONTINUE>>>
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September 15, 2011
'Losing' love letters to cool the 7-year itch
from China Daily
by Zheng Xin
BEIJING - Couples worried about the seven-year itch can now plan a reminder of their love by posting a letter to their future selves.
Addressing a function at Nehru Park on the occasion, the Chief Minister highlighted the importance of Floating Post Office in Dal Lake for the visiting tourists and the residents.
“Your initiative to revive the facility of Floating Post Office at Dal Lake is praise worthy,” he told the Post and Telegraph Department adding that the facility would prove a boon to the tourism sector in the State.
He said that this facility which exists in the Dal Lake some 20 years ago diminished with the diminishing of tourism due to unfavourable and disturbing circumstances and finally came to a standstill.
CONTINUE>>>
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August 10, 2011
Nigeria: Retirees shut down Nigerian post offices over 4 billion naira arrears
from Afrique en ligne
Retirees from the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) have shut down all post offices nationwide to drive home their demand for the immediate payment of their 73 months pension arrears amounting to 4,071,398,252.47 naira (about US$ 27 million) to 9,433 pensioners, according to the Guardian newspaper Tuesday. The paper said that as early as 7a.m. Monday, visibly angry retirees blocked the entrances to the Ikeja and Agege NIPOST offices in Lagos, turning back persons who had come to receive or post letters for the day.
“We are on strike. Until they pay us our money, we will not allow them to operate,” the pensioners chorused in unison.
CONTINUE>>>
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August 8, 2011
Japanese government gets postal workers to check on isolated seniors
from Carepoint
Almost 5 million Japanese senior citizens live alone and more needs to be done to reduce their feelings of isolation.
Local authorities in Japan are teaming up with the postal service to check up on elderly residents who live alone.
The size of Japan’s aging population is on the rise but statistics show that many seniors die alone and their bodies are failed to be discovered for days – in the Shinagawa ward in Tokyo 25 people died on their own last year.
Under the new inititative postal workers will visit the homes of the elderly every month to deliver a seasonal greetings card and check that they are okay. If the workers find anything unusual they will be able to contact a special center that will get in touch with hospitals and welfare officials.
Experts have said the reluctance of the Japanese to interfere in the lives of others means that many seniors go through long stretches of time where they do not talk to anybody.
Social commentator Tomoko Inukai said: “In some ways this can have its merits, because we can be free, independent. The demerits, though, are that we ignore each other. One terrible characteristic of Japanese society is that we treat our elderly like they’re lifeless animals.”
He added: “An enormous flaw in Japanese society is that we don’t look each other in the eye when we’re walking in the streets. We need to re-think the Japanese fear of interacting with others.”
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August 3, 2011
1,000 Post Office Employees Protest in Romania
from The Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania --
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) About 1,000 post office employees have gathered outside the Ministry of Communications in the Romanian capital to protest the running of the sector.
Protesters say the state-owned company which employs 34,000 people is losing money because the management is inefficient, and are calling for the resignation of Communications Minister Valerian Vreme.
The post office plans to close down hundreds of offices this year, with protesters in Bucharest saying Tuesday about 1,400 people are expected to lose their jobs. Management says many will be redistributed to other offices.
The International Monetary Fund with whom Romania has an agreement has urged authorities to reform unprofitable state-owned companies
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July 26, 2011
The Chinese 'super postwoman' who has covered 124,000 miles
from The Telegraph
by Malcolm Moore
Luo Xiying, 43, collects and delivers all the mail for a county of eight villages (pop. 20,000) in the mountains of the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi.
She has to decide every day between a round of 25 miles, hiking through the steep mountains on foot, or one of 43 miles, some of which she has been able to cover by bicycle since a mountain road was built last year. Each route covers four of her eight villages and she alternates between the two.
Since she started work at the post office in 1996, she believes she has worn through more than 60 pairs of shoes and covered around 124,000 miles.
CONTINUE>>>
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July 19, 2011
Free WiFi Rolled Out In Italian Post Offices
from Hellmail
The Italian Post Office is rolling out a free WiFi service to its network of post offices.
Poste Italiane has already installed the service (provided by Poste Mobile) in 22 post offices, allowing citizens to connect and surf for free via notebook, smartphone or tablet. To logon to the service, users only need to fill out a short form and the WiFi password is sent via text message to the users phone. The number of post offices providing free WiFi will be gradually extended throughout Italy.
CONTINUE>>>
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July 13, 2011
Taiwan’s post offices sell more than stamps
from Taiwan Today
In recent years Taiwan's postal system has been making efforts to branch out into new businesses, one of which is serving as a distributor of various products.
Efforts in this regard have been quite successful, with the postal authority selling a greater number of items. This in turn is helping to boost annual revenues.
In a move to bolster this initiative, more and more items are now being sold on shelves set up at post offices.
The Tainan City postal service's marketing department commented that the postal system has post offices all throughout the island, from the largest cities to the tiniest of hamlets.
Many companies look to the post office to sell goods on their behalf, treating the post office as a distribution network. These companies believe they can rely on the strong credibility of the post office to promote those products, alleviating the need to dedicate large amounts of money to advertising.
Consequently, this is turning into a win-win situation for the makers of these items as well as the post office, which is experiencing higher revenues.
The marketing department explained that providing agency sales is offering enormous business opportunities. The Tainan post office is promoting items from Nan Liu Enterprise, originally a maker of nonwoven fabrics, but that has now branched out into facial masks and creams.
CONTINUE>>>
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January 13, 2012
Post offices in Beijing selling train tickets
from China Daily
by Quan Li
Twenty-four post offices in Beijing began selling train tickets, providing another way to buy tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush, Beijing Times reported Friday.
The 24 offices will stay open until 10 pm every night, four hours longer than other ticket agents, said Wang Xiaodong, vice-general manager of Beijing Post Co.
The new ticket outlets, most of which are located in the city’s suburbs, are expected to help migrant workers during the peak travel time, Wang said, as many of them live in suburban areas and don’t know how to use a computer or have no Internet access to book tickets online.
Migrant workers’ difficulty in getting train tickets during the Spring Festival period was brought into the media spotlight when Huang Qinghong, a migrant worker from Chongqing, slammed the online ticket booking system in an open letter to the Ministry of Railways after he failed to get a ticket after waiting in line for days at the railway station.
Post offices in Beijing also sell air tickets and concert tickets, Wang said, and they also provide information about flights through a messaging service.
January 5, 2012
Thai customs intercept tiger parts sent by post
from m&c
Bangkok - Thai customs officials have foiled an attempt to smuggle 60,000 dollars worth of tiger skins and bones via the country's postal service, officials said Thursday.
Customs officials prevented the posting of four tiger skins and assorted tiger bones from Hat Yai, southern Thailand, to Mae Sai, norther Thailand, earlier this week, but failed to arrest the sender.
Royal Thai Customs Director General Somchai Poolsawasdi said that stricter law enforcement against traffickers using road routes had prompted them to switch to the postal service.
The Customs Department will further investigate who was behind the tiger parts posting, he told a press conference.
'Traffickers must be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if we're going to have any chance of averting the extinction of this magnificent animal,' said FREELAND Foundation's Tim Redford.
FREELAND, a non-governmental organization that opposes animal trafficking, often colludes with Thai authorities to crack down upon smugglers of endangered species.
The number of wild tigers in Asia have dropped from 100,000 a century ago to only 3,200 now, largely due to a huge local demand for tiger meat, skins and other parts.
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Chinese Year of the Dragon stamp deemed too ferocious
from NPR
by Bill Chappell
To welcome the Year of the Dragon, China's postal service plans to release commemorative postage stamps featuring the fabled beast. But many customers are finding the image to be a little over the top.
Here are some reactions cited by China's Xinhua news agency:
"'The moment I saw the design of the dragon stamp on newspaper, I was almost scared to death,' wrote Zhang Yihe, on weibo.com, China's Twitter-like social networking service and microblogging service provider, on Tuesday.'The dragon on the stamp looks too ferocious,' echoed one post on the Web.'It is roaring and intimidating," read another."
The new image for year 4710 is quite a turnaround from that of 4709, which was the Year of the Rabbit. The stamp issued by China Post to mark that occasion features a cuddly rabbit with a shy streak — a far cry from the roaring demon staring out from the new stamp.
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December 27, 2011
Postal chiefs unveil the official stamps of the London 2012 Olympic Games
from Daily Mail
With just 213 days remaining until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, the official stamps commemorating the Games were released by the Royal Mail.
The range of ‘definitive’ stamps – the most commonly used kind – includes some bearing the chosen Olympics logo, as well as others featuring the emblem for the Paralympics, which will all be available in books.
It is the first time a logo has featured on the front of a definitive stamp.
December 23, 2011
Post offices transform into Santa's village
from Hacinema
A total of nine post offices including Seoul Central Post Office, post offices in such cities as Uijeongbu, Changwon, and Gongju are decorating their buildings with Christmas ornaments.
On December 22, nearly 100 Santa postmen from all around the nation gathered at the Seoul Central Post Office along with several important figures including the Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Seok-woo and president of Korea Post Kim Myung-ryong for a welcoming ceremony.
The Santa Post Offices are decorated with the theme of Santa's Village and employees at the office all welcome customers with wearing Santa costumes. Children can take pictures with Santa Claus at the post office and receive a special stamp with Santa or other Christmas symbols.
The Santa postmen wearing Santa costumes deliver packages during the duration of the event and also bring gifts such as rice, stationery, and household items to the needy.
The participating post offices are also holding temporary events including writing a letter of hope, a small concert for needy teenagers, a magic show, and a stamp exhibition. Volunteer events are also hosted by the Santa postmen such as visits to welfare centers and flea markets for fundraising.
Uijeongbu Post Office and Gongju Post Office are hosting a time machine event. Those who want to receive a letter on the same day next year can drop it off at those post offices. The event allows participants to write their New Year's resolutions and send them to themselves a year in the future.
By Jessica Seoyoung Choi
Korea.net Staff Writer
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December 22, 2011
Job in a Million
from The British Postal Museum & Archive
Today’s episode of The Peoples Post focused on the life of postal workers in the 1930s. Included were extracts from the film Job in a Million, made in 1937 by the GPO Film Unit.
The paternalist air of Job in a Million seems patronising to us today, but it reflected the public service ethos of the time. As well as boys and men, girls, women and disabled people were all employed in large numbers by the Post Office, particularly during and after the First and Second World Wars.
With this history it unsurprising
that the majority of the UK population have either worked for or have an
ancestor who worked for the Post Office or Royal Mail. Here at the BPMA we
receive enquiries every day from family historians wanting information on the
working lives of their ancestors.
Find out how we can help with your search at
www.postalheritage.org.uk/genealogy, or for
information on working lives in the Post Office see www.postalheritage.org.uk/history.
To watch the episode, click here.
_______________________________________________________________December 14, 2011
Names of China's secret spacemen -- and women -- "uncovered" by collectible
from collectSPACE
That is the conclusion reached by two international space observers, who found an offer for a postmarked envelope – or "philatelic cover," as collectors refer to it – signed by seven Chinese pilots. The group included two women, one of whom may soon become China's first female astronaut, or "taikonaut," to reach space.
"The names of the military pilots selected in 2010 to form China's second group of taikonauts – which have been a closely guarded secret for the last 18 months – appear to have been released [as the result of] a possible philatelic blunder," said Tony Quine, an Isle of Man-based space memorabilia collector and contributing writer for the British Interplanetary Society's "Spaceflight" magazine.
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December 12, 2011
Post worker risks life to hide money from robbers
from RT
In a brave and selfless gesture, a post office worker in Moscow has fended off armed robbers attempting to make away with a million rubles ($30,000), ensuring local pensioners will not go without as winter bites.
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December 2, 2011
Postcards sent from outer space
from China Daily
BEIJING - Think getting a letter from the other side of the globe is cool? Imagine getting one from space.
In a new marketing ploy by China's postal service, people can write letters that will be sent digitally to the Tiangong-1 space lab. From a special e-mail box onboard, the letter will be sent back to Earth and then delivered to the receiver in printed form.
"New media has dealt a heavy blow to the traditional postal service. The number of people writing letters dropped significantly in recent years," Sun Buxin, director of the Haidian district post office in Beijing and executive director of the China Space Post Office, said on Thursday.
"Most letters we handle now are business letters, but even this sector is experiencing a sharp drop," he said.
The solution is to change.
"People now like to go on the Internet and use e-mails and micro blogs to communicate, so we have to combine new media with our resources to provide more individualized services and catch up with the pace of people's change in habits," he said.
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A ticket to Bali with your stamps: Australia Post set to open travel agencies
from news.com.au
AUSTRALIANS will be able to buy a stamp and a trip to Bali at the same time with travel agencies to open in Australia Post offices around the country.
The Brisbane GPO in Queensland became the first of hundreds of stores to open a Harvey World Travel outlet today where customers can book domestic and international flights, accommodation, cruises and tours.
Australia Post has also launched its own travel insurance product and is partnering with American Express to offer currency exchange outlets in 200 of its post offices.
Travel insurance is already available online at auspost.com.au/travelinsurance and via phone but will be launched in stores next year.
Travel insurance is already available online at auspost.com.au/travelinsurance and via phone but will be launched in stores next year.
The outlets already offer a range of travel services including passport applications, international sim cards, foreign currency and travel guides.
Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour said there was a boom in Australians travelling overseas thanks to the strong dollar and it was the perfect time to launch the new services, which would be a "one-stop-shop'' for travellers.
"People don't have a lot of time to run around,'' he said.
"By the time you go on your holiday you really need it to get over all the organising.
"The idea is to be able to do all of the things you need in the one place.
"We're trying to bundle things to make it easier for people.''
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November 23, 2011
BANG! There goes the Belgian postman's bike
from Reuters
Nov 23 (Reuters) - Belgium's postal service has asked its delivery men to hand back the batteries on their electric bicycles after one of them exploded.
"Last week, we had one battery on one bicycle, smoke came out and the postman immediately stopped and he took away the battery and it exploded," said a spokesman for bpost on Wednesday.
Around 2,000 Belgian postmen were using electrical bicycles but they have all now been asked to hand back the batteries.
It follows a fire in another Belgian post office where batteries were being recharged overnight, although it is still unclear if a battery caused the fire, the spokesman said.
"The electrical bicycles can still be used without the battery, so the vast majority of the rounds that are impacted are still being done by the postmen with the bicycles but without the batteries," he said.
The batteries are currently being checked by the manufacturer and will be replaced if necessary and returned in about two months. (Reporting ByBen Deighton, editing by Paul Casciato)
November 23, 2011
Cuba to overhaul postal service
from Fox News Latino
Havana – Cuba's postal service will become a state-owned corporate group next year bent on modernizing its administraton and seeking greater efficiency and quality as part of President Raul Castro's effort to "modernize" the island's socialist economic model.
The official economy weekly Opciones said that Correos de Cuba "will shed the old megastructure that impedes its development and install more modern systems of management, the guarantee of efficiency and quality."
With some 13,600 employees, Correos handles such services as newspaper, mail and shipment deliveries as well as a list of other services including Social Security payments and credits.
Its new model as a corporate group will include 18 territorial subsidiaries and others specializing in courier services, currency exchange, insurance and "superior address organization."
Correos de Cuba's director of strategy, Raul Marcial Cortina, told the weekly that "decentralization" is one of the goals of restructuring, with each subsidiary organizing and directing its own services in its own territory.
The Cuban government recently announced the restructuring of the sugar industry, in former times the principal driver of the nation's economy, and similar measures are not ruled out for other sectors of the economy.
The historic Sugar Ministry was eliminated in September and in November was replaced by the business group AZCUBA, an umbrella organization covering 13 provincial companies plus nine support and services agencies, two research institutes and a training center.
The reform included reducing the industry's workforce by 45 percent.
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November 18, 2011
After 28-year pay-equity fight, female postal workers awarded $150-million
from The National Post
by Kathryn May
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada settled Thursday an epic pay-equity battle, reinstating a $150-million award for thousands of women employed at Canada Post.
The case, which has dragged on for 28 years, was finally resolved when the court upheld a 2005 decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that found a wage gap for women working in clerical jobs and awarded them $150-million.
“We are thrilled,” Patty Ducharme, executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said following the court decision.
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November 17, 2011
Christmas Island post office bustles on account of popular postmark
from The Winnipeg Free Press
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, N.S. - An appropriately named post office in Cape Breton will be akin to Santa's workshop in the coming weeks.
Every holiday season, Canada Post's Christmas Island office receives thousands of cards and packages seeking to be stamped with its unique postmark.
Equipped with a wreath, ball ornaments and bow, the Christmas Island postmark is stamped in either red or green ink, depending upon the colour of your envelope or package.
"We receive mail from all over Canada, from the States, we have lots from Europe, and some from Asia," said MacKinnon, who has worked in the tiny rural office for 13 years. "You never know what you're going to see in the run of a day here."
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November 4, 2011
China opens first 'space post office'
from CNN
To celebrate Thursday's docking of the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft with space lab module Tiangong-1, China's post authority has opened a new branch office outside the country and out of this world -- 343 kilometers above the Earth, to be exact.
Opening for business yesterday, the China Post Space Office has two venues -- one on-the-ground base inside the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACCC) and one "virtual office" aboard the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft.
There is also a new designated post code -- 901001.
China Post Group’s general manager Li Guohua told China Daily the post office will be able to deliver mail from the public to astronauts in future.
The office will also issue postal souvenirs that depict China's major astronautic events, such as stamps and envelopes.
We weren't exactly sure what a virtual space post office was or how it all worked, so we made some calls. We left the 'why send mail to space when you can email or Skype chat' question for another day.
According to staff at the BACCC post office (which houses the worldly version of the space post office) the new branch handles normal postal as well as courier services.
All mail going through the BACCC office will be chopped with a special postmark showing the date in numerals, and “Beijing” and “Space” in simplified Chinese.
Philatelic fans can also send a letter to themselves to obtain the postmark by providing an extra envelope with sufficient return stamps (RMB 0.8 from Beijing, RMB 1.2 from other Chinese cities) and an address.
Beijing News reported Shenzhou-8 had in its payload three postcards to space this trip.
According to the report, it is possible the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft, expected to launch in 2012, will take stamps and letters from the public into the final frontier.
And what sort of mail might be carried?
“For example, [people] can send us their wedding photos or vows to travel to space with the spacecraft. After [the spacecraft] brings them back, the space post office will mail them back to the owners on the agreed date,” an anonymous manager at Beijing Haidian post office told Beijing News.
The authority is yet to announce the price for mailing to space.
China Post Space Office is affiliated to China Post Group, and is headed by Yang Liwei (杨利伟), the country's first space-traveling astronaut.
October 31, 2011
Japanese hometown (Furusato / prefecture) stamps
from The Stamp Collecting Blog
Carrying on with the topic of Japanese postage stamps, I’m heading towards the prefecture stamps (also known as as Furusato or hometown stamps). These are best described as kind of local governement stamps. Depending on the catalog these are listed either as separate section (Scott), in appendix (Stanley Gibbons), or mixed with regular national stamp issues (Michel).
So why the name? Japan is divided into multiple levels of political subdivisions; one of which is called prefectures. Since 1989 the Japanese postal administration has issued stamps for various prefectures. These stamps have been issued in the prefecture named on the stamp, as well as on all other prefectures in the same postal region (for example Shikoku postal region has jurisdiction over prefectures of Ehime , Kagawa , Tokushima , Kochi).
Additionally these stamps have been available to all through the Central Post Office in Tokyo and philatelic new issue service, so these are not strictly speaking locals. Prefecture stamps are valid for postage throughout Japan, and they can be used for international mailings too.
To continue reading and to see pictures, click here.
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September 20, 2011
Coventry sees postal workers' bikes replaced by trolleys
from The Coventry Telegraph
THE TRADITIONAL sight of a postie on a bike is to vanish in much of Coventry over the next few weeks.
Royal Mail bosses are replacing them with ‘‘high capacity trolleys’’ as part of a safety drive.
It’s the end of an era. For decades most letters and parcels used to be delivered on two wheels.
But over the coming weeks, bikes and post bags will cease to be used in the north of the city following a national agreement on changes to delivery methods.
The new trolleys make it easier for postmen to carry heavy packages around.
The agreement also means that post will be delivered for a longer time during the day and routes could be changed.
But the changes will only take place in the north of the city for the time being, as staff in the south have so far refused to agree to the changes.
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September 15, 2011
'Losing' love letters to cool the 7-year itch
from China Daily
by Zheng Xin
BEIJING - Couples worried about the seven-year itch can now plan a reminder of their love by posting a letter to their future selves.
Beijing Post is offering to store letters and deliver them after seven years, part of a series of romantic services they have introduced.
Since Sept 9 in Chinese the date is called jiu jiu, which means forever customers have been able to buy special stamps, postmarks, postcards, envelopes and even a Love Passport, which can be stamped every anniversary.
A new zip code 100099 will be written at the bottom of all letters and postcards.
"We came up with the services not only to expand our business but also to offer the public another way to express their love," said Liu Jingmin, manager of the post office, which is near the west gate of Yuanmingyuan Park in Haidian district.
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August 23, 2011
Floating post office inaugurated in Dal lake
from The Kashmir Dispatch
Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah inaugurated Floating Post Office-cum-Museum and flagged off Srinagar-Shopian Mail Van here Monday evening, the duo facilities created by the Post and Telegraph Department.
“Your initiative to revive the facility of Floating Post Office at Dal Lake is praise worthy,” he told the Post and Telegraph Department adding that the facility would prove a boon to the tourism sector in the State.
He said that this facility which exists in the Dal Lake some 20 years ago diminished with the diminishing of tourism due to unfavourable and disturbing circumstances and finally came to a standstill.
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August 10, 2011
Nigeria: Retirees shut down Nigerian post offices over 4 billion naira arrears
from Afrique en ligne
Retirees from the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) have shut down all post offices nationwide to drive home their demand for the immediate payment of their 73 months pension arrears amounting to 4,071,398,252.47 naira (about US$ 27 million) to 9,433 pensioners, according to the Guardian newspaper Tuesday. The paper said that as early as 7a.m. Monday, visibly angry retirees blocked the entrances to the Ikeja and Agege NIPOST offices in Lagos, turning back persons who had come to receive or post letters for the day.
“We are on strike. Until they pay us our money, we will not allow them to operate,” the pensioners chorused in unison.
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August 8, 2011
Japanese government gets postal workers to check on isolated seniors
from Carepoint
Almost 5 million Japanese senior citizens live alone and more needs to be done to reduce their feelings of isolation.
Local authorities in Japan are teaming up with the postal service to check up on elderly residents who live alone.
The size of Japan’s aging population is on the rise but statistics show that many seniors die alone and their bodies are failed to be discovered for days – in the Shinagawa ward in Tokyo 25 people died on their own last year.
Under the new inititative postal workers will visit the homes of the elderly every month to deliver a seasonal greetings card and check that they are okay. If the workers find anything unusual they will be able to contact a special center that will get in touch with hospitals and welfare officials.
Experts have said the reluctance of the Japanese to interfere in the lives of others means that many seniors go through long stretches of time where they do not talk to anybody.
Social commentator Tomoko Inukai said: “In some ways this can have its merits, because we can be free, independent. The demerits, though, are that we ignore each other. One terrible characteristic of Japanese society is that we treat our elderly like they’re lifeless animals.”
He added: “An enormous flaw in Japanese society is that we don’t look each other in the eye when we’re walking in the streets. We need to re-think the Japanese fear of interacting with others.”
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August 3, 2011
1,000 Post Office Employees Protest in Romania
from The Associated Press
BUCHAREST, Romania --
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) About 1,000 post office employees have gathered outside the Ministry of Communications in the Romanian capital to protest the running of the sector.
Protesters say the state-owned company which employs 34,000 people is losing money because the management is inefficient, and are calling for the resignation of Communications Minister Valerian Vreme.
The post office plans to close down hundreds of offices this year, with protesters in Bucharest saying Tuesday about 1,400 people are expected to lose their jobs. Management says many will be redistributed to other offices.
The International Monetary Fund with whom Romania has an agreement has urged authorities to reform unprofitable state-owned companies
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July 26, 2011
The Chinese 'super postwoman' who has covered 124,000 miles
from The Telegraph
by Malcolm Moore
Luo Xiying, 43, collects and delivers all the mail for a county of eight villages (pop. 20,000) in the mountains of the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi.
She has to decide every day between a round of 25 miles, hiking through the steep mountains on foot, or one of 43 miles, some of which she has been able to cover by bicycle since a mountain road was built last year. Each route covers four of her eight villages and she alternates between the two.
Since she started work at the post office in 1996, she believes she has worn through more than 60 pairs of shoes and covered around 124,000 miles.
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July 19, 2011
Free WiFi Rolled Out In Italian Post Offices
from Hellmail
The Italian Post Office is rolling out a free WiFi service to its network of post offices.
Poste Italiane has already installed the service (provided by Poste Mobile) in 22 post offices, allowing citizens to connect and surf for free via notebook, smartphone or tablet. To logon to the service, users only need to fill out a short form and the WiFi password is sent via text message to the users phone. The number of post offices providing free WiFi will be gradually extended throughout Italy.
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July 13, 2011
Taiwan’s post offices sell more than stamps
from Taiwan Today
In recent years Taiwan's postal system has been making efforts to branch out into new businesses, one of which is serving as a distributor of various products.
Efforts in this regard have been quite successful, with the postal authority selling a greater number of items. This in turn is helping to boost annual revenues.
In a move to bolster this initiative, more and more items are now being sold on shelves set up at post offices.
The Tainan City postal service's marketing department commented that the postal system has post offices all throughout the island, from the largest cities to the tiniest of hamlets.
Many companies look to the post office to sell goods on their behalf, treating the post office as a distribution network. These companies believe they can rely on the strong credibility of the post office to promote those products, alleviating the need to dedicate large amounts of money to advertising.
Consequently, this is turning into a win-win situation for the makers of these items as well as the post office, which is experiencing higher revenues.
The marketing department explained that providing agency sales is offering enormous business opportunities. The Tainan post office is promoting items from Nan Liu Enterprise, originally a maker of nonwoven fabrics, but that has now branched out into facial masks and creams.
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