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June 10th, 2009UncategorizedIn a letter to a key House subcommittee chairman, US Postmaster General John Potter again pressed his case for Congressional action on proposed legislation that would reduce the agency's out-of-pocket costs for retiree health benefits, which could save the US Postal Service $2 billion this year. -
June 9th, 2009UncategorizedEvery business person who cares about delivering value, quality and integrity in servicing customers knows one thing: Responding to customer feedback promptly and consistently builds trust and guarantees repeat business. Enterprise CRM technology must reflect that knowledge, belief and commitment by ensuring all the right steps for an appropriate response without delay — but also without missing the background information available in other document and data-heavy systems across the company.
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June 8th, 2009UncategorizedOne would expect online romances to end more suddenly in the absence of immediate attraction, similar social networks and demographics. Some studies have indicated however that the opposite is the case for online dating singles - singles who meet online like one another more!
McKenna, Green and Gleason 2003 also Bargh, McKenna and Fitzgerald 2003 both offered results showing that people who have reached the level of meeting and knowing each other well via an online concept, are not “blinded” by an initial attraction factor and as a result had more things in common.
This may be because online dating permits the single to be discriminative and to finish relationships with unsuitable dates early on.
The success of a romance through online dating or meeting in person has been proven to be reliant on four main points:
Where the online dating couples meet - distant romances are less likely to succeed. Various job types and different financial matters also bode badly.
What the online dating couples do together - similar interests can bring people together and therefore the romance is more likely to last.
The amount of conversation singles have with each other when they are in a romantic partnership: taking a long period to get to know one another online before meeting in person and postponing sexual relations promotes longevity of relationships.
How communication is effected: Couples who learn to deal well with communication even when in dispute are likely to last longer. Online chat provides a medium that allows couples to become comfortable when communicating, even if disputes occur later when having already met face to face.
Tidwell and Wallis 2003 and Johnson 2002 produced statistical results showing that singles who meet online are more likely to offer personal details and emotions than those who met in person. This possibly goes along way to explaining the longer relationships outcome, but it is likely that factors like anonomynity would certainly play a part in online dating.
Online dating singles are usually ready for a long lasting relationship. Not wanting or not able to meet new singles in a night club environment they decide to take the search seriously. The available access of online dating services mean that online dating can be slotted in between TV shows, other activities with friends or when relaxing after work. This non rushed, relaxed setting puts the online dater in a calm frame of mind, and this relaxing state of mind in turn makes them more attractive.
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June 7th, 2009UncategorizedBlogging is the latest craze in Internet marketing and SEO circles. User generated content now rules. This article gives six good reasons that you should consider blogging as part of your online marketing efforts.
Blogging is great fun! Yes, blogging can be great fun. Just open you posting window and go for it without the restrictions of corporate style guides and other impediments to creativity. Got something to say? Just say it. The other fun aspect of blogging is that people can post comments about your blog posts. You posts plus reader comments all become valuable food for the search engines.
Blogging is cheap. The most powerful blogging systems are free. Word press seems to be the blogging standard and now comes standard with many cheap web hosting packages. For less than $100 per year anyone can get their own domain with blogging included.
I wouldn’t use one of the free blogging services unless you are really desperate. You can’t be sure if they will always remain free and your posts will be building up someone else’ asset rather than your own.
Blogging is fast and easy. If you can use notepad you can blog. The user interface is very intuitive and allows you to add and edit, text, pictures, and videos, whatever you want want to change the look and layout of your blog? There are literally hundreds of themes available that take less than a minute to upload and install.
Blogging gives you products and services personality. People like to do business with people they like. By blogging you show your target market that there is a real person behind the company you represent. By reading you blog posts that get an idea of what you’re all about - warts and all. The personal aspect of blogging is one of its most powerful characteristics.
Your blog becomes another Internet asset. Some blog sites get thousands and thousands of readers each day. This traffic can be converted to hard, cold cash through Google Adsense advertising, affiliate programs and straight advertising space sale. Once you blog increases it’s Google Page Rank, you also get the benefit of linking out from your blog site to other web sites you want to promote.
Search engines just love blogs. It is said in many SEO forums that Google staff are great bloggers and subsequently Google spiders and indexes blogs more frequently that normal web sites. This may just be a rumor, but I have found it to be true in my case. If you blog every day there’s a good chance Google and the other major search engines will spider your blog every day looking for that new content.
Convinced? Give blogging a try. There are stacks of free resources listed in article directories like this one that will help you get into blogging.
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June 6th, 2009UncategorizedUPS Inc. today reported first quarter revenue of $10.9 billion, down 13.7% from the same quarter last year, and saw its earnings fall nearly 56% to $401 million, compared to profit of $906 million a year ago.
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June 5th, 2009UncategorizedUSPS Commissioner Ruth Goldway published a op-ed last month, suggesting that part of the federal stimulus program be spent on converting USPS vehicles to electric.
Goldway said this, "Converting just the 142,000 standard delivery trucks would reduce gasoline consumption by up to 68 million gallons a year and save the Postal Service millions of dollars."
The logic is along these lines: Our fleet of 219,000 vehicles is aging -- and there are no new purchases planned. Our Long-Life vehicles, most of them produced 25 years ago, are servicable, but not practicle with the modern mail mix.. And many routes are short -- well within the range of an overnight charge to an electric delivery vehicle.
The logic against an electric fleet is the initial outlay -- and the cost of coal-fired plants producing electricity to run our fleet.
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June 4th, 2009UncategorizedMail volume plummeted 4.5 percent — or 9.5 billion pieces — in fiscal year (FY) 2008. Reduced mail volume allows the Postal Service to combine delivery routes to maximize efficiency and reduce workhours, overtime, and other expenses. The Postal Service is seizing this opportunity by consolidating more than 87,000 city delivery routes.
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June 3rd, 2009Uncategorized
Massachusetts has approved a new regulation to list calorie counts at fast food eateries and other chain restaurants throughout the state.Now that more than half the adults in Massachusetts are overweight, its Public Health Council is following in the steps of California and NYC to hammer home the message that fast, easy food = fast, easy weight gain. As of November 2010, close to 6,000 restaurants statewide will have to post calorie counts next to every single item on their menu. And, since 65% of fast food is bought at the drive-thru, calories must be listed there too.
It's good news for the consumer who really does want to know how many calories are in a McFlurry, but it's bad news for those franchisees who have to foot the bill for the redesigned menus. According to Jim Coen, president of the Dunkin' Donuts Independent Franchise Owners, it can cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to create the new signage required by these types of laws.
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June 2nd, 2009UncategorizedAmid all the turmoil and angst in media circles today, the big debate is how media must change to find a new future. Everyone agrees the business model is irreparably broken. Advertising alone can no longer support most newspapers or magazines, which have heavily subsidized subscribers for years. Everyone agrees the future is digital, but digital advertising doesn't provide the volume of dollars necessary to maintain traditional media's sizable investment in editors and writers.
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June 1st, 2009Uncategorized
Now this is some kind of story. I'll be telling Mrs. Benny about this tonight when she complains about how I drive the buggy.
Dwayne Raskey started his postal career in Brainard, NE, on Mar. 27, 1959 after two years of serving his country in the Marines. He was a rural carrier associate on the route from 1959 to 1980.In 1980, after 21 long years, he finally got his own route -- a 92 mile doosey.But catch this. He's never had an accident in his 50 years of service and recently received the 2 million mile award from the National Safety council.On top of that, Dwayne hasn't used even a single day of sick leave -- that's going back 50 years!He walks to work everyday and often rides his bicycle on the trail from Brainard to Valparaiso in the summer which is at least 9 miles.
