Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label US Govt Post Office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Govt Post Office. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Singapore’s Postal Service Reinvents Itself for the Digital Age - NYTimes.com

Singapore’s Postal Service Reinvents Itself for the Digital Age - NYTimes.com

Singapore’s Postal Service Reinvents Itself for the Digital Age



"SINGAPORE — http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/business/international/singpost-reinvents-for-digital-age-of-ecommerce.html?emc=edit_th_20150519&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45685287&_r=0

When a German lingerie brand wanted to sell bras online in Malaysia, it turned to Singapore’s nearly 200-year-old national postal service.

Singapore Post built a website, developed a marketing strategy and now delivers packages for the company, Triumph International. 


The customer service team even answers questions about sizing. 

 As postage stamps give way to keyboard clicks, SingPost is redefining the role of the letter carrier, by creating a one-stop shop for retailers’ e-commerce needs in Asia.

In South Korea, SingPost is helping to sell Levi’s jeans. In Singapore, it is stocking Toshiba laptops. In Malaysia, it is delivering Adidas sneakers. 



 With traditional mail services in decline, post offices around the world are scrambling to reinvent themselves for the digital age.

“Sitting on that burning platform, we looked around and said, ‘Where could we develop?’” said Wolfgang Baier, the chief executive of SingPost.

Continue reading the main story  
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/business/international/singpost-reinvents-for-digital-age-of-ecommerce.html?emc=edit_th_20150519&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45685287&_r=0

RELATED COVERAGE

Alibaba to Buy Stake in Singaporean Postal System MAY 28, 2014 


Japan Post is buying the largest private package and freight delivery company in Australia, Toll Holdings, in a bid to create a rival to UPS and FedEx. The United States Postal Service, which lost $5.5 billion last year, is providing Sunday deliveries for Amazon. Australia Post is working with the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba to help local businesses connect with consumers in China."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/business/international/singpost-reinvents-for-digital-age-of-ecommerce.html?emc=edit_th_20150519&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=45685287&_r=0

'via Blog this'
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Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: 
Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com

My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/




See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art,artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalistsand journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maioremDei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson:“That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!”- See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
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Friday, December 12, 2014

Letters to Santa: Why charity groups fought to have kid’s letters end up in the dead letter office.

Letters to Santa: Why charity groups fought to have kid’s letters end up in the dead letter office.: "A century ago, charities fought to have children’s wish lists sent to the dead letter office. They lost.  By Alex Palmer" 

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/holidays/2014/12/letters_to_santa_why_charity_groups_fought_to_have_kid_s_letters_end_up.html

What could be more innocent than a letter to Santa? A child jotting down her heart’s desires in pencil or crayon and dropping it in the mailbox, naively hoping the wish will be granted by Christmas morning: It’s a tradition that goes back at least to the mid-1800s, and it is a reminder of the holiday’s more idyllic past.

These days, such letters are viewed as an opportunity to help the less fortunate. In many cities across the U.S., the Postal Service makes available Santa letters to groups or individuals who want to fulfill the wishes enclosed within. It’s a small gesture, multiplied hundreds of thousands of times a year, that brings joy to both the giver and the recipient. What harm could come from that?
Oh, just teaching kids to beg, cheat, and lie—at least, that was the conventional wisdom of charity groups in the early 1900s. As such, the Post Office Department, now known as the U.S. Postal Service, found itself in the middle of a wild confrontation between a press and public that never failed to find delight in a note opening with “Dear Santy,” and groups that claimed Santa letters were the product of con artists in training.
“The Post Office Department does not believe in Santa Claus,” lamented the New York Times in a 1906 article about the government policy that undeliverable mail—including letters addressed to a certain chubby, sleigh-riding fellow—be sent to the dead letter office and destroyed. ...  http://www.slate.com/articles/life/holidays/2014/12/letters_to_santa_why_charity_groups_fought_to_have_kid_s_letters_end_up.html
'via Blog this'

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Eagle Archives: Standard, aka junk, mail goes back to 19th century http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo


Eagle Archives: Standard, aka junk, mail goes back to 19th century http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo


The nation's first countywide free rural postal delivery service got off to a shaky and contested start Dec. 20, 1896, in Carroll County.

According to multiple media accounts, including the Baltimore Sun, "One of the first pick-ups postal clerk Edwin Shriver had on the inaugural day of Carroll County's Rural Free Delivery service was a greased pig…"

"I'm sure he (the customer) did it as a joke," said Shriver. "But I slapped a 42-cent stamp on its rump and delivered it. That pig squealed the whole way."

A little over three years later, Charles Emory Smith, the 39th postmaster general of the United States and a journalist by trade, visited Westminster on April 30, 1900.



If Smith were to come back today, he would find the current state of affairs of the Postal Service look more like that haze produced by the forest fire.
These days, the future beautiful vista at the post office is less than clear, if my last visit there is any indication.

After I opened my box, I let out a squeal much like that of that greased pig in December of 1896. I quickly realized that I had once again fallen prey to the modern scourge upon the postal system that has significantly impacted our lives today, junk mail, or as it is politely referred to by the postal system, "standard mail."


Don't complain about the flood of unsolicited mail. "The Postal Service is hoping to deliver even more," according to an article in the New York Times last September.

"Faced with multibillion-dollar losses and significant declines in first-class mail, the post office is cutting deals with businesses and direct mail marketers to increase the number of sales pitches they send by standard mail…"

Now isn't that just special … Unbelievable… http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo

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Kevin Dayhoff - The Tentacle: Fighting the “Stuff Monster”



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Kevin E. Dayhoff June 20, 2012 


There comes a time in a person’s life when one needs to get a fresh supply of trash bags, buy a new heavy-duty paper shredder, back the pick-up truck to the basement door, get out the large party-size coffee maker, and clear the clutter.


For me, periodically fighting the “Stuff Monster” has been a survival tool – or I would have been the tragic-lead character in a serial reality horror show on hoarding a long time ago.

Yet, in my personal journey of a life-long struggle with the “Stuff Monster,” the deck has always been stacked against me.

For, you see, my situation has been exacerbated by the fact that I have been self-employed all my life. Many colleagues have been able to fight the “Stuff Monster” much more easily because all the filing cabinets full of papers and pallets of boxes in records storage, has been the responsibility of their respective employers.

Well, with me – since the late 1960s – I’ve been my own employer and keeping records, documents and stuff has always been my responsibility.

And, of course, for the last 35 or so years, in addition to art and farming, I have continuously served on any number of local, county or state boards, committees or commissions – and for many years, as an elected official – all of which was accompanied by my bringing home papers, documents and records by the wheelbarrow load.

[….]


I am trying to go as paperless as possible.

My paperless initiative is in part, because technology has advanced to the point that I can now handle many office and administrative functions more efficiently - without paper.

However, my reasons for going as paperless as possible are in part, as a matter of practicality. Above and beyond the fact that we travel a lot and are simply not at home to get hardcopy paper-mail at our post office box; at my advanced age, handling mountains of paper day-in and day-out has not gotten any easier.

Curiously, after almost 40-years of office administration, if you hand me a piece of paper, in several hours, I have no clue as to where it is. However, I always seem to be able to find electronic paperwork… Caroline will tell you that I have come to like reading online so much that I scan-in letters and writing-newspaper-research materials just so that I can read it on the computer…

Moreover, a large part of my decision to go paperless is a product of my environmental activism, which in part springs forth from faith beliefs…

Whatever - - I am a geek and although a few electrons may be inconvenienced; paperless is far more efficient…

That said, LOL – the initiative sure has had some interesting moments – and a few profound failures; however, it has been for the most part, quite successful…


Kevin E. Dayhoff June 20, 2012 The Tentacle http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41 The mindless meanderings of a mad writer. Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hnwxx

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Postal Workers Oppose Job Cuts, Support Alternative Legislation and more from Lutherville-Timonium Patch


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September 28, 2011

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September 28, 2011

Postal Workers Oppose Job Cuts, Support Alternative Legislation

Nick DiMarco | Sep 27, 2011 | 0 Comments

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A group of U.S. Postal Service employees gathered at the intersection of Padonia and Deereco roads to protest the Postal Reform Act of 2011 and to thank Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger for his support.

High Prices for Metal Spur Rise in Copper Theft

Nick DiMarco | Sep 27, 2011 | 0 Comments

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Lutherville-Timonium not immune to national trend.

Legislators Voice Support for School Construction Funding

Tyler Waldman | Sep 27, 2011 | 0 Comments

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The 42nd District General Assembly delegation and Baltimore County Councilman David Marks sent a letter to state education officials.

Clock Runs Down On Council Redistricting Compromise

Bryan P. Sears | Sep 27, 2011 | 0 Comments

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Monday's vote nears as some on Baltimore County Council stop talking to each other and options for Loch Hill and Woodlawn fade.
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September 28, 2011

Symphony Manor

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Symphony Manor is a general practice assisted living facility located in Roland Park. The facility offers assisted living services …

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September 28, 2011

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Health Awareness Day

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Health Awareness Day is a one-day event where various health and wellness vendors gather to educate, engage, and inform Baltimore …

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Baby Boosters Story Time at Towson Library

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Parents with infants up to age 23 months can participate in a story time event that includes music, movement and rhyming. …
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