Convenience Amplified for UPS Customers-article published in postcom.org dtd 25Nov

Customers Gain Convenient Alternative,
End-to-End Visibility With New Solution

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 24, 2011 /CNW/ - UPS Canada has announced a change inthe way it delivers packages to some residential addresses that will provide consumers a newlevel of convenience.Canadian consumers now will be able to pick up their residential packages at a nearby retail location if delivery cannot be made to them directly at home on the first attempt.  Delivery information notices, left behind by UPS drivers, will inform consumers where they can pick up their package the following day. This will provide added convenience and flexibility to those who want to pick up their packages on their own schedule.

Consumers will still have the option of deciding where their package is delivered.  If they missed the first delivery attempt and prefer not to pick up their package at the location listed on the information notice, they can have the package redelivered to their home or an alternative address by making a request on ups.com.

Participating The UPS Store^® locations - which offer convenient daytime and weekend hours - will serve as pickup sites for the residential packages.  As UPS continues to expand this program in Canada , additional pickup locations will be added to the network.

"The change in service is a direct response to feedback we've received from private consumers and businesses targeting these customers," said Wayne Bosch , vice president, UPS Canada Customer Solutions. "It's a great way to help our customers receive their packages when it's most convenient for them and helps contribute to environmental efficiencies by reducing the number of return trips a driver makes to an address."

The new program was successfully implemented earlier this year at The UPS Store locations in Kitchener and Montreal , generating positive feedback from customers.

If UPS normally leaves a package at a residence on its first delivery attempt, that service will continue.  If the customer currently lives in an apartment or condominium complex where packages cannot be released if no one is at home, the package will be moved to the nearby pickup location.  Packages will be held at the pickup location for seven business days before returning to a UPS centre for final disposition.

The use of additional technology will provide customers with complete visibility of their shipment's delivery - in real time.  This will allow The UPS Store locations to scan packages and capture signatures upon pickup, which will then be uploaded to UPS systems.  This improved convenience will be available in select locations on qualified packages to residential customers. All commercial customers will continue to receive three delivery attempts as usual. To find out more about participating The UPS Store locations, please email customerservice@theupsstore.ca.

About The UPS Store

With more than 340 stores nationwide, The UPS Store is Canada's largest franchised chain of business services centres, offering such services as digital printing, document finishing, photocopies, mailbox rentals, worldwide shipping and much more. Visit theupsstore.ca to find a location near you.

About UPS

UPS (NYSE:UPS - News) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business.  Headquartered in Atlanta , UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide.  The company can be found on the web at UPS.com and its corporate blog can be found at blog.ups.com.  To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.

Press Release: UPS Canada Ltd. – Thu, Nov 24, 

LIST OF OFFICE BEARERS ELECTED IN THE 27th DIVISIONAL CONFERENCE

Working President President	Com.H.Ramesh,Postman,VJNMDG,BG-40    Com. M.V.Nagaraj,Stgpm MLOPO BG-86
Vice Presidents	Com.K.Ravi,Postman,RajajinagarHo BG-10 Com. D.V.Prabhakar,,Stgpm,PSIPO BG-58   Com. D.Elangovan, Postman, K.G.Road PO BG-09
Divisional Secretary Deputy Dvn secretary	Com. V.Purushotham,Postman,Nandinilayout PO,BG-96 Com.M.B.Krishnappa,Postman, RajajinagarHo BG-10
Asst Dvnl Secretaries	Com. V.Mohan,Postman,Yeshwanthpur PO BG-22 Com. V.Gopalakrishna, Postman, City MDG,BG-02 Com. S.Venkatesh, Stg Postman BNR MDG, BG-79
Divisional Treasurer	Com. K .R.Ramesh, Postman Vijayanagar MDG BG-40
AsstDivisionaTreasurer	Com. Natashankar Stg Postman,Hampinagar PO BG-104
Organizing Secretaries	Com. Venkatachalapathy,Stgpm,Dasarahalli PO  BG-57 Com. K.R.Mohan,Postman,Nagarabhavi PO BG-72  Com. HanumeGowda,Postman, VijaynagarMDG BG-40 Com. Mukundan.V Postman, Viswaneedam PO BG-91
Auditor	Com.  R. Seethalakshmi, Postwoman ,City Mdg BG-02

Commitee Members Copy To ;

Com.Venkatesh,Mahadeviah,M.Govindraj,Krishnappa,K.Chandra shekar,M.V.Ravikumar,Shivakumariah,S.U.Lakshminarayan, B.M.Pushpavathi,Rekhamani,K.Latha,JaheerAhmed, VenkateGowda,Shivananjiah.T.H, B.Tukaram, Panchakshariah,Mohandas,  Somanna, M.T.Gopala, AdaviSastry.Krishnan 1)The Sr.Supdt Of Po’s, BangaloreWest Division  -With a  request to extand trade union facilities and  future corresp ondence with V.Purushotham   Divisional Secretary.   AIPEU Postmen,M.T.S/Group’D’, Nandinilayout po Bangalore-560096.  2)Secretary General , New Delhi-1 3)General Secretray ,  P4,     New Delhi-1 4)Circle Secretary, P4, Bangalore-560002 5)Office Bearers.

FLASH NEWS FROM P3CHQ;

Meeting with Senior officers, Directorate

On 24. 11.2011, Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General NFPE and President CHQ, General Secretary Com. K. V. Sridharan and Com. Satyanarayana, General Secretary, Postal Accounts met the Secretary and discussed the issues. The need for review meeting on the decision arrived on strike demands and convening JCM Departmental Council meeting was discussed and stressed. Secretary (P) Ms. Manjula Prashar assured to convene the meeting shortly.

Thereafter, Secretary General & General Secretary P3 met Member (P), DDG (P) and other senior officers and discussed various issues. The following are the outcome and information, we gathered from the Directorate.

1.      LGO Exam: - Decision has been taken ignore the language papers and exam result will be decided based on the marks secured in Arithmatic Paper (25 X 2) communication will be sent to CMC for valuation of arithmetic paper and finalise results.

2.      IPO Exam:  A Committee has been constituted to review the out of syllabus questions on law paper. The Committees report is expected within a forthnight Threafter decision will be taken about the valuation of IPO exam papers. It seems that it will take atleast a month’s time for finalistion.

3.      HSG I Recruitment Rules: At last, the UPSC approved the Recruitment Rules for HSG I, the file will be forwarded to Law Ministry for approval of draft for Gazette notification of HSG I Recruitment Rules and it will be finalized within a month.

4.      Postmaster Grade III: - The Issue will be finalized within a month as the file relating to HS GI Recruitment Rules had been approved. Volunteers will be called for among the HSG I after releasing DPC for HSG I and the posts will be filled first with the HSG I officials opted for postmaster Grade III. The remaining posts will be filled as per the Recruitment Rules of Postmasters.

5.      Cadre review: - DDG (P) assured that he will finalise a draft from the Department side and discuss the same in the first weak of December 2011. We explained the urgency and the need for the earliest finalization of this major demand.

6.      Postman Recruitment Rules : - Based on our strike demands to modify the Postman Recruitment Rules and also to have a discussion about this with staff side, a meeting with DDG (P) will be held on 2.12.2011 at 11.00 hours at Directorate.

7.      Allowance Committee: - The Committee constituted for review of allowances has finalized its recommendation and is expected to submit before the end of this month. Our CHQ views, as learnt, has taken note of while considering the issues. Orders may be expected.

8.      GDS Demands: - i) Despite strong recommendation by the Department, JS (FA) has once again return the file with some objections relating to the case of reduction of point from Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 10000/- we should exert more pressure.

(ii) Similarly the enhancement of Bonus ceiling file was also returned by the internal finance stating that the GDS are doing duties less than 5 hours. This should also be taken vigorously

9.      Casual Labourers: - The Committee constituted to consider about application of revision of wages and also the future of the existing casual labourers/contingents has sought information from various circles. The finalisation of Committee, it is leant, will take more time, there are 21000 contingent part time casual labourers. We may think of suggesting to convert such posts as GDS or may be absorbed in the unfilled vacancies of GDS which were kept under skeleton.

10.  Postmaster Grade I: - The declined vacancies have been filled up with the remaining successful candidates of all the circles except five circles from which no informations were received. They have been addressed. No examination was held in Kerala Circle due to court cases.

11.  PA Recruitment: - PA Direct recruitment for the vacancies up to 2011 December may be scheduled in the month of April 2012 and the revised recruitment Rules will be brought in to effect. Directorate has initiated the process.

12.  Confirmation Exam: - In the revised PA recruitment rules, the confirmation examination has been removed. There is no examination hereafter. All will be confirmed by DPC committee as per 6 (i) (12) of the said rules. This is a major achievement so far our P3 Comrades.

13.  Rules 9 Cases/Review petitions: - Member (P) Ms. Yasodhara Menon informed that time bound action has been initiated to clear all pending Rule 9 Cases/Review petitions. She assured result-oriented action on other issues also.

Joint Divisional Conference of P4 & GDS held on 20/11/2011

 

source-Vijaya karnataka daily news paper

Bangalore west Divisional Conference photos

 

Interest rates on postoffice savings schemes increased

No. 6-1/2011-NS.II (Pt.)

Ministry of Finance

Department of Economic Affairs

(Budget Division)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Delhi, the 11th November, 2011.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Sub: Decisions on the recommendations of the Committee for

Comprehensive Review of National Small Savings Fund (NSSF).

The Thirteenth Finance Commission in its Report had, inter alia, recommended that

 all aspects of the design and administration of the NSSF be examined with the aim

 of bringing transparency, market linked rates and other much needed reforms to the 

scheme. As a follow up of this recommendation, the Government had constituted a 

Committee on 8th July, 2010, headed by Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, the then Deputy

 Governor, Reserve Bank of India for comprehensive review of NSSF. The terms of reference

 of the Committee included review of the existing parameters for the small saving

 schemes in operation and recommend mechanisms to make them more flexible

 and market linked; review of the existing terms of the loans extended from the NSSF to

 the Centre and States and recommend on the changes required in the arrangement of

 lending the net collection of small savings to Centre and States; review of other 

possible investment opportunities for the net collections from small savings and the 

repayment proceeds of NSSF loans extended to States and Centre; review of the 

administrative arrangement including the cost of operation; and review of the incentives 

offered on the small savings investments by the States.

2. The Committee submitted its report to the Government on 7th June, 2011. Comments/views

 of Department of Posts, Department of Revenue, Department of Financial Services, 

Department of Expenditure and all State/Union Territory Governments were 

sought on the recommendations made by the Committee.

3. The recommendations of the Committee have been considered in detail, taking 

into account the views/comments received from other Departments, States/UTs 

and representations received from various agents’ associations and others. After detailed 

examination the following decisions have been taken:-

Rationalisation of Schemes:

(i) The maturity period for Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) and National Savings Certificate (NSC) 

will be reduced from 6 years to 5 years.

(ii) A new NSC instrument, with maturity period of 10 years, would be introduced.

(iii) Kisan Vikas Patras (KVPs) will be discontinued.

(iv) The annual ceiling on investment under Public Provident Fund (PPF) Scheme will be increased 

from Rs. 70,000 to Rs..1 lakh.

(v) Interest on loans obtained from PPF will be increased to 2% p.a.from existing 1% p.a. 

(vi) Liquidity of Post Office Time Deposit (POTD) – 1, 2, 3 & 5 years – will be improved by 

allowing pre-mature withdrawal at a rate of interest 1% less than the time deposits of 

comparable maturity. For pre-mature withdrawals between 6-12 months of investment, 

Post Office Savings Account (POSA) rate of interest will be paid.

Interest Rates on Small Savings Instruments :

(i) The rate of interest paid under Post Office Savings Account will be increased from 3.5% to 4% p.a.

(ii) The rate of interest on small savings schemes will be aligned with G-Sec rates of similar maturity,

 with a spread of 25 basis points (bps) with two exceptions. The spread on 10 year NSC (new instrument)

 will be 50 bps and on Senior Citizens Savings Scheme 100 bps. The interest rates for every financial

 year will be notified before 1st April of that year.

(iii) Assuming the date of implementation of the recommendations of the Committee as 1stDecember

 2011 the rate of interest on various small savings schemes for current financial year on the basis of

 the interest compounding/payment built in the schemes, will be as given below:-

Instrument	Current Rate (%)	Proposed Rate (%)
Savings Deposit	3.50	4.0
1 year Time Deposit	6.25	7.7
2 year Time Deposit	6.50	7.8
3 year Time Deposit	7.25	8.0
5 year Time Deposit	7.50	8.3
5 year Recurring Deposit	7.50	8.0
5-year SCSS	9.00	9.0
5 year MIS	8.00 (6 year MIS)	8.2
5 year NSC	8.00 (6 year NSC)	8.4
10 year NSC	New Instrument	8.7
PPF	8.00	8.6

(iv) Payment of 5% bonus on maturity of MIS will be discontinued.

Commission to Agents

(i) Payment of commission on PPF schemes (1%) and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme (0.5%) will be 

discontinued.

(ii) Agency commission under all other schemes (except MPKBY agents) will be reduced from existing

 1% to 0.5%.

(iii) Commission at existing rate of 4% will continue for Mahila Pradhan Kshetriya Bachat Yojana (MPKBY) 

agents.

(iv) Incentives, if any, paid by the State/UT Governments will be reduced from the commission paid by 

the Central Government.

Investments from NSSF :

(i) The minimum share of States in net small savings collections in a year, for investment in State

 Governments Securities, will be reduced from 80% to 50%. The remaining amount will be invested in 

Central Government securities or lent to other willing States or in securities issued by 

infrastructure companies/agencies, wholly owned by Central Government.

(ii) Yearly repayment of NSSF loans made by Centre and States, will be reinvested in Central and State Government securities in the ratio of 50:50.

(iii) The period of repayment of NSSF loans by Centre and States will be reduced to 10 years, with no 

moratorium.

(iv) For the current financial year the prevailing interest rate of 9.5% will continue. From 1stApril, 2012 revised interest rate will be notified.

(iv) Half yearly payment of interest by the Centre and the States will be introduced.

(v) Interest rate on existing investments from NSSF in Central Government securities till 2006-07

 will be re-set at 9% and on those from 2007-08 till 2010-11 will be re-set at 9.5%.

Operational Issues of NSSF

(i) A Monitoring Group drawn from Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Posts

, State Bank of India, other select banks and select State Governments will be set up to resolve various

 operational issues like reducing the time lag between collection and investment, etc.

4. Necessary notifications, including those requiring amendments to rules of various small saving

 schemes and National Small Savings Fund (Custody & Investment) Rules, 2001 will be notified

 separately. The above decisions will take effect from the dates to be specified in the notifications.

5. This has the approval of Finance Minister.

(Shaktikanta Das) 
Addl. Secretary to the Govt. of India