Emerging Competition in Postal and Delivery Services

Emerging Competition in Postal and Delivery Services
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2013-03-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475751222

Emerging Competition in Postal and Delivery Services brings together practitioners, postal administrators, the courier industry, regulators, academic economists and lawyers to examine important policy and regulatory issues facing the postal and delivery industries. This volume reviews such topics as cost and productivity analysis, universal service and entry, demand analysis and the structure of postal payment system, price regulation and competition.

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.

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.

Postal and Delivery Services

Postal and Delivery Services
Author: Michael A. Crew
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2013-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1461302536

When Postmaster General Creswell penned his concern about the impact 2 of electronic diversion on his postal organization, the year was 1872. General Creswell, it turned out, fretted unnecessarily. Facsimile did not achieve commercial viability until roughly a century after his tenure as Postmaster General and today that technology is fading rapidly from the communication scene. Moreover, it never appears to have significantly affected physical letter volumes. However, if General Creswell were leading a major postal organization today, he likely would feel threatened by the potential of Internet communication to cause electronic diversion of physical mail. Should recent technology developments cause the oft-predicted (but so far incorrect) inflection point that would mark the beginning of declining mail volumes. the implications from a management standpoint will be profound. The relatively fixed nature of postal costs suggest that volume declines must be offset though improved productivity, reduced cost of inputs, revenue from new products that share common costs, or reduced level of universal service.

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.

Reforming the Postal Sector in the Face of Electronic Competition

Reforming the Postal Sector in the Face of Electronic Competition
Author: Anheuser-Busch
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0857935801

'Professors Crew and Kleindorfer have once again assembled a valuable collection of essays that address timely and important issues in postal sectors throughout the world. The essays employ diverse methodologies to provide useful insights about recent and likely future developments in the postal industry. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers alike.' – David E.M. Sappington, University of Florida, US In our increasingly technology-focused world, demand for traditional postal services is steadily shrinking. This timely volume examines the many challenges that the worldwide postal sector is facing as a result of growing electronic competition, and offers expert recommendations for reshaping postal structures to strengthen their competitiveness in an electronic age. Drawn from a selection of papers presented at the 20th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics in Brighton, UK, this book showcases expert contributions on the rapidly changing postal sectors in both the United States and Europe. Topics discussed include the various financial challenges posed by decreasing demand for postal services, recent changes in how postal services are provided, and new structures and modes of operation, such as privatization, that are currently affecting the industry. Contributors offer a thorough breakdown of the issues as well as ideas for keeping the postal sector alive in a world that is growing ever more reliant on purely electronic means of communication. Economists with an interest in regulatory economics, innovation and public sector economics will find this volume useful and informative, as will institutional libraries and industry professionals.

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 Role of the Postal and Delivery Sector in a Digital Age

The Role of the Postal and Delivery Sector in a Digital Age
Author: Michael A Crew
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2014-01-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1782546340

This volume, the result of the 21st Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics (Ireland, 2013), describes the continuing problem of the decline of the postal sector in the face of electronic competition and offers strategies for the survival of mail s

Politics of Postal Transformation

Politics of Postal Transformation
Author: Robert M. Campbell
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2002-03-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 077356974X

The postal sector is a multi-billion dollar set of activities that touches billions of lives daily and continues to be one of the world's largest employers. Until recently all Posts were monopolies owned by governments in order to maintain a universal postal service. However, in response to technological and international competition as well as public disenchantment with postal subsidies and inefficiencies, governments have embraced a range of new strategies. In The Politics of Postal Transformation Robert Campbell investigates and analyses the most important policy innovations in recent years as countries struggle to create a postal regime that matches domestic political expectations with international and technological realities. Through extensive interviews with numerous key government, regulatory, postal, and union officials in North America, Europe, and Australasia, he identifies four models or strategies, each reflecting particular national characteristics and ambitions: from privatization (Netherlands, Germany) and deregulation (Finland, Sweden, New Zealand) to increased national support (France) and mixed strategies (UK, Australia). Campbell's comparative analysis provides a backdrop for a set of recommendations for policy-makers and lays the foundation for informed speculation about future international postal developments and the possible domination of the system by a select group of postal behemoths.

Saving the Mail

Saving the Mail
Author: Rick Geddes
Publisher: American Enterprise Institute
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780844741802

A comprehensive overview of the U.S. Postal Service, its organization, and its performance since its creation by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act.