European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                British postman John Shipp is almost hidden by 62,500 letters the number which his postal system handles every minute. Makes Money in Britain How come postal director Denis e. Roberts drive less electric trains part of an 8-station underground mail ing system in London. By Robert d. Hershey or. New York times or years officials of the loss Ridden  service have argued that toting the mail cannot be a paying proportion in the modern world. One Way or another they say taxpayers Money must be found to fill the yawning Chas Between income and expenses. But look what has happened in Britain. After a Lon string of losses postal operations have become profit making centers earning $41 million in fiscal 1977 and$77 million in the year ended in March. What s More the service is unquestionably better i Britain. About 93 percent of first class letters Are delivered the Day after they Are mailed. Every address in the country is covered by 9 30 a.m., and in Urban areas there is a second delivery later in the Day As Well. Britons have such Confidence Bat their mail will not go astray or that they will know quickly if it does that few of them bother with return addresses. The Price for All this is about the same As in America where the Standard rate recently climbed to 15 cents. Comparisons Between the two operations Are not entirely fair since it is a far bigger logistical problem to serve a dynamic Continental country such As the unite states than a tight knit Island nation such As Britain and one that had been experiencing a decline in Mai volume As Well. But the main reason for Britain s Success seems to lie elsewhere. I think the main difference is our relationship wit the government said Denis e. Roberts the 61-year-old managing director of Britain s postal system. In 1975 the government did the finest thing it could Ever have done it pulled the Rug from under us. It said we re not going to make up your losses any longer " Roberts said the previous losses were caused mail by an inability to raise prices. We found ourselves in a situation where on the on hand costs were increasing while on the other hand prices were pegged by government. The fact that you re in loss Means you Are de motivated. It also distorts the Market and you get business you otherwise would not Nave got if you had been pricing  the biggest problem had been Britain s parcel service which was so inexpensive that us losses amounted to half of us revenues. After officials announced the decision to abandon it putting 17,000 jobs in jeopardy they won a 19 percent Rote in crease on parcel mall. Now this division is poised to break even Roberts said there was also a dramatic increase nearly a doubling in Ordinary letter rates during 1975. We have a much easier ride when we go for increases 22? �u�d0i 1pl 8ald a Amer can a Khas got to go through a much More Long winded and slower process and the process is much More legalistic people can file objections. Once we be started to go for a Price Rise and assuming the government is not operating policy of restraint we can do the whole thing in about three months. There s a bit of a commotion when we do it but think too that the Price lobbies Here Are not As Strong " Nigel n. Walmsley an aggressive 36-year-old appointed last year to head the Post office marketing unit said he thought the difference Between the British and Ameri can practices was really grounded in their political  v americans he suggested will not stand for a govern ment Agency throwing its weight around in markets air freight service for example where it has not been Given a monopoly. And the United states insists that al customers be treated equally. No such niceties apply in Britain. Or the uninhibited British Post office has launched vigorous advertising campaigns to get the business it covets even if this Means capturing it from Pri vate carriers. The Post office also is using us Powers to negotiate individual contracts with big mailers offering hefty rate reductions to hundreds of mall order and other companies. Postal workers Man new system of coding desks. Worker reads the Postcode Britain s version of the zip code then punches it on a keyboard which puts it into code in almost invisible dots on the envelope and runs the letter into automatic sorting machines. F mail to the actual additional Cost of moving Tois of course yields a much lower rate than a pricing. Quite important we re al owed i to do it . About 50 percent of parcels in Britain Are now sent under contract and so 0116 taken offence at the mar Taal pricing Page 14 the stars and stripes marginal pricing considers the distribution networks already paid for and thus pegs the rate for extra fat requires All mail to pay its share of overhead British officials Point to underpricing of i class and third class mail As a severe Ameri Handicap. We do not normally Bow to pressure or subsidized service Walmsley said. Gently the pricing system in Britain not Only re in fatal rates More accurately to costs but also gives Tatomer More flexibility As Well. With letters for sex Ai the difference in postal rates for the two classes Isbin Speed of service rather than on what the letters cd the criterion used in the United  letters delivered the first working Day Asp election Cost about 17 cents. Second class letters 95 ent of which Are delivered by the third Day Cost 13  thus can tailor the service to their needs Artir willingness to pay. Indeed they switch Bac Airth so much Roberts noted that the system finds it Dilt to project How much Revenue will be raised by sped rate  postal operations Are far from Ideal however. Pet Ivity is relatively poor and Union opposition has red both work measurement programs and Mecha my that Are designed to improve it. American Post office by contrast moves about Nimes As much mail Over much longer distances wily about 3vi times As Many  s certainly room for improvement in labor productivity commented James Gwynn Secretary of the Post office users National Council a watchdog body but if you look at International comparisons the postal system in this country is As Good As most and better than  the British Post office one of the world s earliest has Long been an innovator. In fact it was the postal system that introduced the postage stamp in 1840. Until then the person who received a letter paid for its delivery. Because it was the forerunner Britain is the Only nation not required to print its name on its Stamps. Innovation has not died out. In recent years the British Post office has developed the most advanced postal coding system. Much of its expertise is offered to other governments through a consulting service. The Post office which is the umbrella body that through separate divisions runs the country s Telephone system its mail and competitive data processing operations was converted from a government department to a nationalized Industry in october of 1969. This gave it an Early dose of the commercial Freedom that has helped postal operations surviving losses that Rose above $200 million in 1975, to become profitable. Roberts is now called on to assess the performance of his transatlantic cousins they be still got a loss still got subsidy he declares. But their train is now going inthe right direction. What i do think they need is a much greater ability to  the Farmers takes on Mabell associated press look out Mabell you re the latest target inthe Farmers almanac s crusade against computerization of the  years after it helped persuade the  service to restore place names to Post Marks the almanac is after the Telephone company touring Back the letter number Telephone listings of the  Are Fine for a computer it literally eats them up. But the human mind balks at the Effort made to overwhelm it with More digits than it can digest says the almanac s 162nd annual edition just off the presses. Pennsylvania 6-5000, the phone number that Glenn Miller made into a musical classic and Butterfield 8, made famous by John o Hara s novel Are More appealing than the numbers they represent says Ray Geiger now in his 45th year As almanac editor. Geiger said exchanges like Murray Hill 2 and Ken More 4 were easy to remember these words had color were delightful wholesome and meaningful he wrote in his almanac which is not be confused with the 186-year old old Farmers almanac published in new Hampshire. Everywhere your editor goes he finds folks who still lament their passing and heartily wish them Back  Telephone & Telegraph says the switch to the seven digit numbers 98 percent of All Telephone numbers these Days was a matter of necessity. Once again nostalgia must butt Heads with hard fact Sand this time come out the loser said an at to response printed in the almanac. There Are More All number combinations than letter number ones and the additional phone numbers were needed the company says. But 67-year-old Geiger says there must be a  m looking to the Bell system for the answers. They Are the wizards. They have ingenious people working for them he said in an interview. In its 1975 edition the almanac called for a return to Community names on postmarks. The Agency had re placed the names with the legend "u.s. Postal service a two letter state abbreviation and a three digit zip code. Geiger says All number dealing and zip coded Post Marks erode the simple pleasures of life. We Are not anti computer we Are against computerization of the mind he says. Saturday i Amber 23, 1978 the stars and stripes Page is