Early postal rockets in Austria: A memoir

The development of Austrian mail delivery rockets and atmospheric sounding rockets in the late 1920's is described

Raising Rivals' Fixed (Labor) Costs: The Deutsche Post Case

We analyze the bargaining problem of an incumbent firm and a union when the wage contract becomes generally binding. Our main application relates to competition among operators of mail delivery networks. We describe the Deutsche Post case which highlights the raising rivals' costs incentive and its consequences resulting from labor laws that make collective agreements generally binding. We show that minimum wages implemented by means of extension regulation are an effective deterrence instrument which frustrates both market entry as well as investments into the build-up of a mail delivery network.Minimum wages, postal services, collective bargaining, raising rivals' costs

Economies of scale, density and scope in Swiss Post’s Mail Delivery

Based on a cross-section data set of 2004 reflecting Swiss Post’s delivery cost we estimate its cost function and derive measures of economies of scale, density and scope.Economies of scale, economies of scope, economies of density

“St. Louis Builds a Post Office”

As the city of St. Louis burgeoned in the middle of the nineteenth century, services struggled to keep up. David Straight examines the challenges presented to mail delivery in 1851

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Long-standing Problems Hampering Mail Delivery Need to Be Resolved

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Mail is a morale booster for troops fighting overseas and for their families at home. More than 65 million pounds of letters and parcels were delivered to troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and problems with prompt and reliable mail delivery surfaced early in the conflict. Congress and the White House forwarded more than 300 inquiries about mail delivery problems to military postal officials. GAO was directed to review mail delivery to troops stationed in the Middle East. In this report, GAO assesses (1) the timeliness of mail delivery to and from troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom, (2) how mail delivery issues and problems during this operation compared with those experienced during Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1991, and (3) efforts to identify actions to resolve problems in establishing mail operations for future contingencies.

When Existing Jobs Don\u27t Fit: A Guide to Job Creation

[Excerpt] Successful job development for people with disabilities is about meeting the specific and often unique needs of each job seeker. Job creation is a way to modify or restructure existing jobs or bring together a combination of job tasks that fill the work needs of an employer while capitalizing on the skills and strengths of workers with significant disabilities. Although there are various approaches to creating jobs, the implementation steps and overall goals and outcomes are the same. One approach is to develop a new position (one that did not previously exist), such as a mail delivery clerk at a business where personnel used to pick up their own mail at a central location. Another strategy involves selecting certain duties from one or more existing jobs and combining them into a separate position (for instance, a worker is hired in an office to support only copying and filing needs)