Blog > International Investing > Postcards from the “Recovery”: Is the USPO k.o.?
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Postcards from the “Recovery”: Is the USPO k.o.?

Today's Financial News - Posted November 13, 2009

Is the economic recovery real? Or just so much hot air coming from the spin doctors in Washington. TFN asks its readers for actualities — telling snippets from everyday life that reflect if and how there is indeed a reason to buy back into America’s future…

Today: Strange dealings with the United States Post Office.

by J. Christoph Amberger

Baltimore, MD — TFN: This is a corporate communication we received from the chief Direct Mail Marketer of a huge direct-mail publisher. At a time when government-run healthcare is being peddled as the solution to the nation’s economic woes, you can’t help but wonder what people inside the Beltway are smoking:

“We just returned from our quarterly meeting with [our fulfillment hub] yesterday, where they proactively advised us of some problems other clients they support are having with the US Postal Service. Because of layoffs/furlough days/weird shifts/etc at the US Post Office, a lot of strange things have been happening with the mail.

“First, the Frederick mail processing center has been closed by the US Postal Service. Mail is being moved to other processing centers. Also the volume is not coming to [our fulfillment hub]’s offices according to its usual cycle. They ramp up staff for Tuesdays, usually their busiest day processing our mail. However the mail volume is not currently following its once predictable cycle.

“Second: Our account manager said they are receiving trays of mail that just sit at the post office for a couple weeks before they are shipped to [our fulfillment hub] . By checking the scan lines that the USPS prints on the envelopes, [our fulfillment hub] can track when and where mail has sat during its journey from our customers to the USPS Processing Centers.

“In some cases where they can read the scan lines, they have found mail that has sat at the processing center for up to two weeks. Other times they have been seeing those scan lines blacked out with a permanent marker. Some clients have been seeing an increase in checks with stop payments. In a manual review of some of the mail last week, they have found checks dated for early September.

“At this point I can’t say for sure how much or how often it is happening (or if it is even happening to our Post Office Boxes) but Merkle was quick to let us know which is why we are passing it on to you. They have a meeting set up with the local postmaster generals next week. As we receive more information we will pass it along to you.”

TFN’s Andrew Snyder comments:  “My first thought when reading this is, oh boy, it will be fun when they are in charge of healthcare. My toe tag will be blacked out while my body sits in a corner for a couple of weeks. ..”


Next Article: Don’t look too far forward

Posted by J. Christoph Amberger · Filed Under International Investing 

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