Competition and Regulation in the Postal and Delivery Sector

Competition and Regulation in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1847209955

Worldwide, postal and delivery economics has attracted considerable interest. Numerous questions have arisen, including the role of regulation, funding the Universal Service Obligation, postal reform in Europe, Asia and North America, the future of national postal operators, demand and pricing strategies, and the principles that should govern the introduction of competition. Collected here are responses to these questions in the form of 24 essays written by researchers, practitioners, and senior managers from throughout the world. This volume will have a broad appeal, with an audience ranging from practitioners in the express and delivery industry, national Postal Operators and managers, to economists, regulators, competition lawyers, marketers, scholars in economic regulation, and institutional libraries.

Heightening Competition in the Postal and Delivery Sector

Heightening Competition in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1849803250

This compilation of original essays by an international cast of top scholars addresses some of the major issues now facing postal and delivery services throughout the world. The European Commission and member states wrestle with the problem of how to implement the scheduled liberalization of these sectors and maintain the universal service obligation while the United States Postal Service is coming to terms with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. In addition, the book addresses the impact of electronic competition as well as other problems facing the field. The contributors analyze pressing issues such as access to infrastructure and service elements, changes in the national regulations of EU countries, forecasting mail volumes and the evolving market environment, issues surrounding universal service and others. Undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in regulation and public sector economics along with industry professionals will find this volume informative and useful.

Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector

Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1848447280

Regulation continues to be an important issue in the postal and delivery sector of the global economy. This latest volume in the Advances in Regulatory Economics series reflects the latest research on trends and policies affecting the postal sector and progress made in the industry s competitive agenda. It is global in scope and covers a broad range of legal and economic issues from leading scholars, researchers, and policy makers. Topics covered include: service quality and price caps, the impact of price regulation on service quality, financing the USO, cost analysis and pricing of innovative postal products, postal demand studies, the effects of intermedia competition; mail order demand; Internet advertising, trends in direct mail, legal and regulatory issues related to the postal sector, competitive strategies in the parcel market, and environmental impacts of mail. The book also provides concrete analyses of the driving forces underlying restructuring, transformation and privatization strategies of postal operators. Scholars and practitioners in public sector economics and postal regulation will appreciate this in-depth treatment of their industry.

The Contribution of the Postal and Delivery Sector

The Contribution of the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Pier Luigi Parcu
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2018-03-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319706721

This book addresses major issues facing postal and delivery services throughout the world. Worldwide, there is currently a considerable amount of interest in postal and delivery economics. The industry is in a state of near crisis and drastic change is needed. The European Commission and member States are still wrestling with the problem of how to implement entry liberalization into postal markets, how to address digital competition, and how to maintain the universal service obligation (USO). The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 in the U.S. has perhaps created and exacerbated the problems faced by USPS. Post Offices (POs) have been slow to address the threat of electronic competition. On the other hand, e-commerce presents opportunities for POs to expand their presence in parcel delivery and perhaps help finance or redefine the USO. A major aim of this book is to address strategies POs can use to reinvent themselves for the digital age.This book compiles original essays by prominent researchers in the field, which will be selected and edited from papers presented at the 25th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held in Barcelona, Spain, May 24-27, 2017. That conference, and this volume, commemorates the memory of Michael Crew who organized twenty-four prior conferences and co-edited previous conference volumes. This book is a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and Federal Government departments.

The Future of the Postal Sector in a Digital World

The Future of the Postal Sector in a Digital World
Author: Michael Crew
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2015-11-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 331924454X

Worldwide, postal operators have been slow to address the threats from and opportunities created by electronic competition. The European Commission and member states are wrestling with these issues, while at the same time continuing to deal with the interrelated issues of implementing entry into postal markets and maintaining the universal service obligation. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 in the U.S. exacerbated financial and managerial problems faced by USPS that result in part from electronic substitution for letter delivery. A major aim of this book is to examine policies to address postal operations in a digital world and ways in which postal operators might reinvent themselves to respond to threats and exploit opportunities. Potential opportunities examined include parcels, e-commerce, digital delivery, regulatory innovations and pricing. This book will be of interest to postal operators, regulatory commissions, consulting firms, competitors and customers, experts in the postal economics, law, and business, and those charged with the responsibility for designing and implementing postal sector policies. Researchers in regulatory economics, transportation technology and industrial organization will also find considerable food for thought in this volume.

Competitive Transformation of the Postal and Delivery Sector

Competitive Transformation of the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1441989153

Competitive Transformation of the Postal and Delivery Sector is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the current state of the postal and delivery sector. It offers current insights of leading researchers and practitioners into strategy and regulation as well as the economics of this sector. Issues addressed include national and international perspectives, financial viability, the universal service obligation, regulation, competition, entry, the role of scale and scope economies, the nature and role of cost and demand analysis in postal service, productivity, interaction of law and economics, human resources, transition and reform issues. The papers in the book were selected from the papers presented at the 11th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics, Toledo, Spain, June 4-7, 2003.

Protecting Competition from the Postal Monopoly

Protecting Competition from the Postal Monopoly
Author: J. Gregory Sidak
Publisher: A E I Press
Total Pages: 195
Release: 1996
Genre: Government business enterprises
ISBN: 9780844739502

The Private Express Statutes protect the U.S. Postal Service from competition in the delivery of letter mail. In contrast, few if any corresponding rules protect competition in other areas from the federal government's postal monopoly. Not only are the Postal Service's competitive activities arguably unrestricted by any explicit application of antitrust law, but public ownership and control exempt the Postal Service's actions from the corporate governance that is characteristic of private enterprises. The Postal Service can take advantage of its autonomy and protected letter mail monopoly to subsidize its entry and expansion in competitive markets, such as parcel post and express mail. That raises a fundamental issue: whether Congress's grant of a monopoly to the Postal Service over the delivery of letter mail should be used to restrict or supplant private commerce in other markets. In this book J. Gregory Sidak and Daniel F. Spulber examine the justifications for the publicly protected postal monopoly and its public ownership and control. On the basis of their economic and legal analysis, the authors demonstrate the need to prevent extension of the postal monopoly into competitive markets.

The Economics of the Postal and Delivery Sector

The Economics of the Postal and Delivery Sector
Author: Pier Luigi Parcu
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2022-03-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030826929

The book addresses the most recent challenges faced by the postal and delivery sector. This book includes original essays by prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of postal and delivery economics, originally presented at the 28th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held online, December 1-5, 2020. Chapters discuss topics such as the sustainability of the universal service obligations (USO) quality of service, last mile solutions, competition in liberalized markets, data protection, environmental sustainability, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This book will be a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors interested in postal and regulatory economics, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.

Reinventing the Postal Sector in an Electronic Age

Reinventing the Postal Sector in an Electronic Age
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1849805962

This compilation of original essays by an international cast of economists, regulators and industry practitioners analyzes some of the major issues now facing postal and delivery services throughout the world as competition from information and communication technologies (ICT) has increased. Competition has become increasingly important in the postal sector for some time in the form of alternative entrants providing mail delivery. However, the competition from ICT in the form of email and instant messaging, the Internet, Facebook and other forms of social networking and portable wireless devices such as the iPad and Kindle may be even more significant. Mail volumes are falling and the economies of scale that have made possible daily deliveries to every address are being eroded. This book assesses volume these declines resulting from this so-called eSubstituion and looks at the ways the postal sector can adapt to the rapid changes resulting from ICT. The impact of electronic invoicing on transactions mail, and the impact on bulk mail of electronic forms of advertising are examined. Strategies, including pricing and access policies, are discussed in the context of the increasing impact of ICT. A rethinking of the role of mail in an electronic age is taking place and this book provides the cutting-edge of this rethinking and the attempts of POs to reinvent themselves while continuing to meet the public s expectation of continuing ubiquitous daily deliveries of traditional mail products. Undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in regulation, competition law, innovation and public sector economics along with institutional libraries and industry professionals will find this volume informative and useful.

Multi-Modal Competition and the Future of Mail

Multi-Modal Competition and the Future of Mail
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0857935828

This compilation of original papers selected from the 19th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics and authored by an international cast of economists, lawyers, regulators and industry practitioners addresses perhaps the major problem that has ever faced the postal sector – electronic competition from information and communication technologies (ICT). This has increased significantly over the last few years with a consequent serious drop in mail volume. All postal services have been hard hit by ICT, but probably the hardest hit is the United States Postal Service, which has lost almost a quarter of its mail volume since 2007. The loss of mail volume has a devastating effect on scale economies, which now work against post offices, forcing up their unit costs. Strategies to stem the loss in volume include non-linear pricing or volume discounts, increased efficiency and the development of new products. This loss of mail volume from ICT is one of a number of current problems addressed in this volume. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) continues to be a leading issue and concern that ICT undermines postal services' ability to finance the USO is discussed. The importance of measuring and forecasting demand and costs take on even greater importance as ICT undermines the foundations of the postal business. This thought provoking book brings to bear new analyses of the most serious threat post offices have ever faced and raises fundamental questions as to the future of mail. Multi-Modal Competition and the Future of Mail is an ideal resource for students, researchers in regulation and competition law, postal administrations, policy makers, consulting firms and regulatory bodies.