CRESTWOOD, KY – On May 23, the U.S. Postal Service will issue Garden of Love — ten different first-class stamps depicting a colorful mosaic of flora and fauna in a garden setting. These stamps are a continuation of the Love series, begun in 1973, and are intended for use on occasions when love and affection are expressed. This marks the first Forever® Love stamp ever issued.

A First Day of Issue dedication ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. EDT at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old La Grange Road, Crestwood, KY – a thriving 33-acre estate in Oldham County known for its extensive collection of unusual plants and outstanding gardens. Admission to the botanical gardens is free to the public before 1 p.m. EDT.

The dedicating official will be United States Postal Service Board of Governors Member Ellen Williams. Additional speakers will be Crestwood Mayor Dennis Deibel, Yew Dell Botanical Gardens Executive Director Paul Cappiello and Kentuckiana District Manager David Dillman, U.S. Postal Service. Honored guests will be Yew Dell Botanical Gardens Board of Directors Chairman Mary Rounsavall and Crestwood Postmaster Wilburn Malone.

The Crestwood Post Office will offer a special First-Day-of-Issue cancellation beginning on May 23. The postmark will be available for 60 days. Customers should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to: Garden of Love Stamp, Postmaster, 6815 Central Ave., Crestwood, KY 40014-9998. The cancellation is also available to those on a walk-in basis. There is no charge for this special postmark.

First Day of Issue collectibles, such as lapel pins, framed art and note cards, will be available on-site the day of the unveiling. A limited edition set of commemorative envelopes, designed by Louisville, KY artist Joanne Meshew, also will be available at the event.

Garden of Love: The Artist
Award-winning illustrator José Ortega of New York City and Toronto depicts an abstract garden of bright flowers, a butterfly, a strawberry, and doves, interlaced with vines that run from one stamp to another. Each prominent element of the design is in the shape of a heart. The deep blue background is reminiscent of a brilliant summer sky. The word “Love” sits atop each stamp.

To create his design, Ortega made a digital file of his original pencil and marker drawings. Then he added color, improvising until the garden took shape. Ortega, a collector of decorative arts, says tapestries, textiles, and mosaics influenced his choice of colors and patterns.

The Garden of Love stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Ortega’s previous projects for the U.S. Postal Service include the 2007 With Love and Kisses stamp and the Salsa stamp, one of four stamp designs that appeared as part of the 2005 Let’s Dance/Bailemos issuance.

LOS ANGELES, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — May 23, 2011 — Zumbox, the leader in digital postal mail services, today announced at CS Week the availability of its Zumbox Digital Postal Mail Gateway (DPM Gateway), a secure network appliance that will automatically and securely deliver postal mail via a digital channel to consumer households. Once the gateway is installed and configured, mailers simply direct their print stream to the DPM Gateway installed inside their corporate firewall. This allows mailers to achieve paper suppression targets, reduce postage and other mailing related costs and improve customer communications.

Designed for large organizations that send transactional mail to consumer households, the DPM Gateway provides direct, secure access to the Zumbox postal network. The appliance manages digital delivery with a simple interface, without the need for custom IT integration work. It delivers detailed reporting about mail recipient usage, including paperless requests, views, payments, printing and discards.

By diverting files headed to print, mailers can immediately push 100% of their files to Zumbox for delivery. This provides the lowest cost possible for delivery to the Zumbox postal network. Delivery of digital postal mail is free. Mailers only pay when users suppress paper, ensuring that any cost comes from real savings.

“A cost-saving alternative to paper mail, digital postal mail has been adopted and deployed by many leading technology and print service providers in conjunction with other physical channels,” said John Payne, CEO of Zumbox. “We’re now seeing demand for increased savings by large mailers who operate their own mail centers. This appliance is the perfect solution for them, enabling large mailers to offer a digital delivery channel to consumers that dramatically increases paper suppression rates and lowers postage costs.”

The DPM Gateway achieves three goals for in-house production mailers: (a) rapid, low-cost deployment with almost no IT resources required, (b) a highly secure, encrypted channel for digital distribution accessed inside the corporate network rather than “in the wild” over the Internet and (c) powerful reports and APIs that provide insight into paper suppression, consumer interactions and other consumer mail response and usage details.

Digital postal mail is an exact facsimile of paper mail, created from a diversion of the print stream before it reaches a mailing system. Zumbox archives and presents mail to consumers in a secure, central online environment, instead of on paper, forever, for free. Zumbox has created a digital mailbox for every street address in the US, connecting large transactional, financial and government mailers to consumer households for the secure, on-time delivery of postal mail online. Ultimately, Zumbox gives consumers increased flexibility in where and how they receive, manage and store their postal mail.

Testimony of Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway, submitted to the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security 

Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Brown, thank you for the opportunity to submit my comments as Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission for inclusion in today’s hearing record. I regret being unable to testify in person.

We all know that in four months, the United States Postal Service will conclude its fiscal year and it will not have sufficient cash or borrowing authority to pay all of its bills.

Commission analysis has found that the Postal Service’s financial crisis derives from an overly ambitious requirement for the Postal Service to prefund its future retiree health benefit premiums. Over the past four years, the Postal Service has paid $21.9 billion to prefund these benefits. All other things being equal, the Postal Service would have achieved a small net profit over that time, except for the prefunding requirement – rather than losses exceeding $20 billion. The Commission’s objective analysis shows that the Postal Service has essentially overpaid as much as $55 billion into the Civil Service Retirement System, and those funds could be used to help address the current crisis.

I reiterate the Commission’s continuing support for the fundamental approach outlined in your bill to address the financial crisis and long‐standing issues related to Postal Service funding of its employee pensions, as well as its future retiree health benefit fund. The Commission wishes to be of assistance to the Committee so that legislative reform in this area proceeds quickly and successfully.

Your bill also provides for regulatory oversight of non‐postal products and services that may be proposed to the Commission under new flexibilities to be provided to the Postal Service. The Commission believes this will promote postal growth and innovation while protecting the public interest, as is currently the case with postal products and services.

The Commission supports modernization of the Advisory Opinion process. Your proposal requiring the Postal Service to respond specifically to the issues and recommendations in the Advisory Opinion is an important improvement, which would be further strengthened by requiring its response prior to implementation of the proposed changes.

The Commission has not yet agreed upon whether a fixed time frame for the Advisory Opinion process would be beneficial. It is not clear whether 90 days would be sufficient in all cases for the facts to be fully set forth or for adequate public input. We hope an accommodation can be found.

The Postal Service has said that it plans to request an Advisory Opinion within months related to the closing of a large number of post offices nationwide. It is apparent, however, from the volume of news reports and customer inquiries received by the Commission from around the country that the
Postal Service is already taking substantial action to close post offices or evaluate them for closure. The Postal Service has not provided details of this activity to the Commission.

I am concerned that the Postal Service should not be undertaking nationwide service changes without first requesting an Advisory Opinion. Their suggested timing of such a request may obfuscate the purpose and intent of Congress in requiring such Advisory Opinions.

The Commission has provided comments to the Postal Service’s Federal Register filing regarding changes to the closings process, as well as in an Advisory Opinion on Station and Branch Closings. I am concerned the public’s rights to notification and participation in the closing process are now ignored. The Postal Service is a government monopoly with obligations to all its citizens, not only a delivery service for business mailers ‐‐ as important as that may be to our nation’s economy.

Effective regulatory oversight is especially vital when the entire mail system faces major changes. The Commission ensures transparency, accountability and adequate service levels and supports positive changes needed to keep the Postal Service vital and relevant.

In closing, I was heartened by Senator Carper’s recent editorial promoting the “triple happiness” of wiser energy policies that protect our environment, reduce costs, and create jobs. In my view, moving to electric vehicles could result in environmental and financial dividends if the Postal Service’s financial difficulties can be resolved.

INDIANAPOLIS — Ray Harroun, winner of the first Indianapolis 500, begins racing his Marmon “Wasp” through the nation’s mail stream today in the form of 50 million First-Class Mail Forever stamps to celebrate 100 years of racing at the iconic brickyard.

The first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony took place at the Speedway as a prelude to Fast Friday, the qualification runs for the 100th Indianapolis 500.

“At the Postal Service, we understand the power of our stamps in celebrating American history and culture — in this case, the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in dedicating the stamp. “I won’t be so bold as to predict the winner of the race, but I will predict that 50 or 100 years from now the U.S. Postal Service will issue another stamp to commemorate the next milestone anniversary of this great event.”

Joining Donahoe in dedicating the stamp were Greg Ballard, Indianapolis mayor; Jeff Belskus, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president; Duane “Poncho” Carter Jr., 1974 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year; and Dave Calabro, Indianapolis Motor Speedway announcer.

“We’ve eagerly been awaiting this day since the United States Postal Service announced the commemorative stamp honoring the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 last December,” said Belskus. “It’s a great honor and an important part of our Centennial celebration that the iconic image of the Marmon ‘Wasp’ will be seen on mail sent from coast to coast.”

The First 500

On May 30, 1911, approximately 80,000 spectators gathered at the Speedway to witness the first running of the Indianapolis 500. Driving a Marmon “Wasp” he designed, Ray Harroun beat 39 other drivers to win with a time of 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds. A century later, the Indy 500 has become an American cultural phenomenon rich in ceremony and tradition and is hailed as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

The car was built by the Indianapolis-based Marmon Motor Car Company and included one of Harroun’s own inventions, the rearview mirror. Today, it is a prime attraction at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

The Indianapolis 500 Forever Stamp is always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Offices, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in larger envelopes addressed to:

Indianapolis 500 Stamp

Postmaster

125 West South Street

Indianapolis, IN 46206-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by July 20, 2011.

Ordering First-Day Covers

The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic Catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment

Dept. 6270

U.S. Postal Service

PO Box 219014

Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Ordering the stamp and related products

In addition to the stamps, there are seven philatelic products available for this stamp issue. Many of these items will be on sale at the race. Customers can order all stamps and products online at www.usps.com/shop, by calling 1-800 STAMP-24, or by using the mail-in order form in the USA Philatelic Catalog. Customers can subscribe to the catalog at www.beyondtheperf.com, www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 1-800 STAMP-24.

From USPS News Link:

Despite a year-to-date (YTD) reduction of 16 million workhours compared to last year, the Postal Service experienced operating costs $100 million above plan in quarter 2 (Jan. 1 to March 31) — ending the quarter with a YTD net loss of $2.6 billion.

Total mail volume in quarter 2 continued to decline, falling more than 500 million pieces compared to the same period last year, according to Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joe Corbett. Although Package Services and Standard Mail volumes increased modestly, the increase was not sufficient to offset the loss of revenue from reduced First-Class Mail volumes.

“Electronic diversion of First-Class Mail continues to be the primary cause of our revenue shortfall,” reports Corbett in his latest “Dollars and ¢hange” quarterly video review of USPS finances. And that decline in First-Class Mail volume is expected to continue.

To help the Postal Service become a leaner, faster, smarter organization, Corbett encourages employees to help control expenses by looking for ways to improve efficiencies. “It’s all about making smarter decisions based on reliable data to build solid processes,” he says. “When we do that, the savings will come naturally.”

From USPS News Link:

Last year, Burger King launched an ad campaign that included television commercials featuring a “letter carrier” singing about breakfast at Burger King rather than delivering the mail. USPS objected to the commercial, resulting in a negotiated settlement favorable to both sides.

The commercials promoted a new line of Burger King food items, including its new breakfast platter. The letter carrier in the commercials — wearing a uniform that closely resembled official USPS attire — sang, “With pancakes and eggs on my plate, the mail has to wait” to customers on his route.

USPS requested the fast food company immediately stop airing the commercials. The Postal Service, represented by its Law Department, argued the letter carrier was portrayed in a less than favorable light. USPS also alleged that its trademarked and copyrighted Sonic Eagle Logo and its Letter Carrier Uniform — which also is registered and trademarked — were used without permission.

Burger King denied it had acted inappropriately. Negotiations resulted in a settlement that includes a license agreement allowing Burger King to use a uniform that resembles those worn by letter carriers. Burger King also agreed to broadcast a revised commercial, featuring a fictitious “delivery person” — portrayed in a more positive manner and dressed in a uniform that resembles a Letter Carrier Uniform without the Eagle Logo.

The Intellectual Property Section of the Law Department and the manager of Public Affairs work together to enforce the Postal Service’s intellectual property rights. Postal Service employees should protect the USPS brand and its trademarks by using trademarks properly.

USPS encourages employees to contact the Law Department and Thad Dilley, manager, Public Affairs, if they see the Eagle Logo, the Letter Carrier Uniform or any other USPS trademark used in an advertisement and if they suspect that the advertisers do not have a license to use USPS trademarks in the ad.

via USPS News Link – May 20, 2011.

eNAPUS Legislative & Political Bulletin for May 20:

eNAPUS Legislative & Political Bulletin May 20 2011

USPS Press release:

WASHINGTON — With nearly 100,000 places to buy stamps, ship a package or renew a passport, the U.S. Postal Service is expanding customer access to its products and services. It’s not about brick-and- mortar Post Offices anymore, as postal products move online and into retail outlets, grocery stores, office supply chains and pharmacies.

Responding to changing customer needs and a business plan that calls for expanding access to Postal Service products, stores including Costco and Office Depot are offering shipping and mailing services.

According to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe, the Postal Service is changing for the better.

“We’re teaming up with hundreds of new stores so customers can do postal business at places where they already shop,” Donahoe said. “Americans have more to do and less time to do it. We know simpler is better – online, on your mobile device, on your way, with an expertise that you can count on.”

Customers can find dozens of locations to purchase postal services within their neighborhoods by visiting an interactive map at www.uspseverywhere.com and typing in a ZIP Code. Using a simple icon guide designating stamps, shipping and packaging, PO Boxes and other services, customers can easily navigate to retail outlets, grocery stores, Automated Postal Center (APC) kiosks and Post Offices, among other options.

With Post Office hours usually ending by 5 p.m. or earlier, customers can send a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box and buy Forever stamps as long as the alternate sites are open – often as late as 9 p.m. Some sites are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We’re creating easier, more convenient access to products and services when and where our customers want them,” Donahoe said. “We’re everywhere so you can be anywhere.”

There are about 32,000 Post Office locations around the country that sell Postal Service products and services. There are more than 50,000 other locations selling postage stamps alone – the top product sold at Post Offices. With the additional shipping provider locations added in, customers have about 100,000 locations and ways to do business with the Postal Service.

Nearly 35 percent of the Postal Service retail revenue comes from expanded access locations such as Costco, Office Depot, grocery stores, drug stores, APCs, ATMs and usps.com, open 24/7.

via USPS News Release: U.S. Postal Service Expands to 100,000 Locations.

(NASDAQ:AMZN)–Amazon began selling hardcover and paperback books in July 1995. Twelve years later in November 2007, Amazon introduced the revolutionary Kindle and began selling Kindle books. By July 2010, Kindle book sales had surpassed hardcover book sales, and six months later, Kindle books overtook paperback books to become the most popular format on Amazon.com. Today, less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.

"Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly – we’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years," said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com. "In addition, we’re excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We’re grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world."

Recent milestones for Kindle include:

• Since April 1, for every 100 print books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle books. This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.

• So far in 2011, the tremendous growth of Kindle book sales, combined with the continued growth in Amazon’s print book sales, have resulted in the fastest year-over-year growth rate for Amazon’s U.S. books business, in both units and dollars, in over 10 years. This includes books in all formats, print and digital. Free books are excluded in the calculation of growth rates.
• In the five weeks since its introduction, Kindle with Special Offers for only $114 is already the bestselling member of the Kindle family in the U.S.
• Amazon sold more than 3x as many Kindle books so far in 2011 as it did during the same period in 2010.
• Less than one year after introducing the UK Kindle Store, Amazon.co.uk is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books, even as hardcover sales continue to grow. Since April 1, Amazon.co.uk customers are purchasing Kindle books over hardcover books at a rate of more than 2 to 1.

Kindle offers the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read. The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 950,000 books, including New Releases and 109 of 111 New York Times Best Sellers. Over 790,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 69 New York Times Best Sellers. Millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle devices. More than 175,000 books have been added to the Kindle Store in just the last 5 months.

All Kindle Books let you "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" – on all generation Kindles, as well as on the largest number of devices and platforms, including iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, Mac, PC, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android-based devices, and soon HP TouchPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks. Amazon’s Whispersync technology syncs your place across devices, so you can pick up where you left off. With Kindle Worry-Free Archive, books you purchase from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon, where they can be re-downloaded wirelessly for free, anytime.

When Congressman Dennis Ross isn’t busy overseeing the US Postal Service, he’s working on solutions to the debt “crisis” he and his colleagues have created:

Dennis Ross, a House Republican and a member of the Tea Party caucus, told Reuters: “I don’t think Treasury has been up front with us. I am not convinced the sky will fall in on August 3.”

Ross added: “I’m not an economist, but I have maintained a household. The federal government owns 70 per cent of Utah, for example. There are federal buildings. If you need cash, let’s start liquidating.”

Say what you want about Dennis, he isn’t boring! Dangerous maybe, but definitely not boring.

via Yglesias » House Republican Proposes Fire-Sale of Utah As Alternative To Raising The Debt Ceiling.