Latest news with #USPS
The Verge
19 hours ago
- General
- The Verge
The tech that the US Post Office gave us
When you crack open your mailbox, it's almost as if your letters just appear. Long before the days of speedy, overnight mail deliveries, postal service workers meticulously sorted through letters by hand and transported mail on horseback. For more than 250 years, the US Postal Service has worked behind the scenes to build a faster delivery network, and this mission has quietly pushed it to the forefront of technology. 'Most people treat the Postal Service like a black box,' USPS spokesperson Jim McKean tells The Verge. 'You take your letter, you put it in a mailbox, and then it shows up somewhere in a couple of days. The truth is that that piece of mail gets touched by a lot of people and machines and transported in that period of time — it's a modern marvel.' One of its big breakthroughs took place in 1918 with the introduction of airmail. The USPS worked with the Army Signal Corps to use leftover World War I aircraft to launch the service, and the planes were as barebones as they could get. An excerpt from a 1968 issue of Postal Life called the early aircraft 'a nervous collection of whistling wires' with 'linen stretched over wooden ribs, all attached to a wheezy, water-cooled engine.' At the time, pilots literally risked their lives delivering mail — 34 of them died between 1918 and 1927. 'There was no commercial aviation, no airports. There was no radio. There was no navigation,' USPS historian Stephen Kochersperger says. 'The Postal Service had to develop all of those things just for getting the mail delivered.' Once the USPS established that it could reliably deliver mail by plane, Congress allowed it to contract airmail service to commercial aviation companies, laying the groundwork for the major airlines that we know today, like American Airlines and United Airlines. Along with getting paid for delivering mail, contractors found that they could make even more money by carrying passengers with their cargo. 'That was where commercial aviation took off,' Kochersperger says. Airmail routes gradually began to expand internationally, first to Canada and then to Cuba. But a couple decades later, the USPS experimented with a novel form of delivery: mail-by-missile. In 1959, the USPS and the US Navy loaded a Regulus I missile with two mail containers that had 3,000 letters in total. The missile traveled 100 miles in around 23 minutes, successfully landing at a Navy base in Mayport, Florida, with the help of a parachute. Despite its success, the idea never took off. It turns out missiles just can't carry that much mail. And overall, this rather ridiculous demonstration was more of a stunt to show force during the Cold War, according to the Smithsonian. Back on the ground, the USPS set its sights on improving the speed of mail processing. Though it began experimenting with a mail canceling machine in the 1920s, which put a mark on used postage, it wasn't until the 1950s that it deployed an electromechanical sorting machine. Instead of manually sorting mail using the 'pigeonhole' method, in which workers would insert pieces of mail into different compartments inside the post office depending on the address, the machine could do that for them. 'The Postal Service is a driver of technological change.' The Transorma multi-position letter sorting machine measured 13 feet high and was split across two levels. It carried mail on a conveyor belt from its lower level to a group of five postal workers at the upper level. The clerks would then use a keyboard to enter information about their destination. Based on the inputted information, the machine would then transport letters to different trays and drop them into chutes that brought them back to the lower level. But as the volume of mail increased in the years after World War II — going from 33 billion pieces of mail per year to 66.5 billion between 1943 and 1962 — the USPS needed a way to keep up. For years, the USPS had depended on clerks to memorize dozens of delivery schemes that they would use to sort letters, preparing them for carriers to distribute throughout town. 'That changed dramatically in 1963, [with] probably the biggest innovation the Postal Service has ever rolled out, called the ZIP code,' Kochersperger says. 'For the first time, mailing lists could be digitized in computers and sorted in new ways.' The ZIP code — short for Zone Improvement Plan — uses its first digit to indicate which region of the US a parcel is headed, the second and third to signal a nearby major city, and the final two to indicate a specific delivery area. The pace of innovation at the USPS ramped up following the introduction of the ZIP code, with many subsequent innovations building on its foundation. That includes the USPS's adoption of optical character recognition (OCR), a widely used technology that converts written or printed words into machine-readable text. In 1965, the USPS began to send large volumes of mail through OCR machines, allowing a 'digital eye' to recognize addresses and automatically sort letters. If the machine couldn't make out a person's handwriting, the USPS would send an image to a remote encoding center (REC) for human review. At one point, the USPS had as many as 55 RECs, but now only one remains in Salt Lake City, Utah. 'As our computer systems have gotten better at recognizing handwriting, we've gotten to the point where it's significantly reduced the number of letters that have to go to remote coding,' McKean says. Today, the USPS's OCR technology can read handwritten mail at nearly 98 percent accuracy, while machine-printed addresses bump its accuracy to 99.5 percent. That's thanks to advances in machine learning, which the USPS, too, has been using in the background for more than 20 years; it first started using a handwriting recognition tool in 1999. The USPS is currently in the middle of a 10-year modernization plan, which includes investments in technology, such as AI. However, the plan has faced criticism for raising the price of stamps and causing service disruptions in some areas. 'The Postal Service is a driver of technological change,' McKean says. 'It's hard to overstate the amount of technology that the Postal Service has been involved in either popularizing or innovating over the last 250 years.'
Time Business News
a day ago
- Business
- Time Business News
Affordable EDDM Printing and Mailing Services
Have you ever considered how effective direct mail can be in reaching your local customers? With affordable EDDM printing and mailing services, businesses can maximize visibility without breaking the bank. EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, is a unique way for local businesses to promote their products and services directly to potential customers in their area. It's an excellent opportunity to put your business in the hands of your target audience! To learn more, keep on reading below. What Is EDDM? Every Door Direct Mail is a service offered by the United States Postal Service that allows businesses to send promotional materials to specific neighborhoods. It's advantageous for small businesses that may not have a large marketing budget. You can choose which postal routes will deliver your mail with EDDM, so you don't need to keep a mailing list. By using this technique, you can make sure that the people who are most likely to need or want your services see your marketing materials. Why Choose EDDM Printing Services? There are countless reasons to choose EDDM printing services for your marketing needs. Here are a few examples: Affordability EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) is a budget-friendly way to promote your business. It offers bulk mailing rates that are typically lower than standard direct mail costs. This makes it ideal for small businesses looking to stretch their marketing dollars. Local Targeting With EDDM, you can focus your mailings on specific neighborhoods or ZIP codes. This helps you reach the customers most likely to visit your store or use your services. It's a smart way to keep marketing efforts local and effective. No Mailing List Required One major benefit of EDDM is that you don't need a mailing list. The USPS delivers your materials to every household on the selected route. This saves time and avoids the need to buy or manage customer data. Backed by the Postal Service EDDM is operated by the United States Postal Service. That means your mailings are handled through a trusted and well-established system. You can count on reliable delivery and nationwide reach. Designing Effective EDDM Mailers Creating an engaging and eye-catching mailer is crucial for attracting attention from your audience. Here are some key points to consider: Clear Message Appealing Design Call to Action Affordable EDDM printing and mailing services can skyrocket your local presence if executed effectively. Tracking your response after your mailers go out is essential. Analyze the number of inquiries you receive or how much foot traffic increases in your business. Final Tips for EDDM Success If you want better results with your EDDM campaign, keep a few simple tips in mind. First, choose mailing routes where your best customers are likely to live. Look at your area and pick places that match who you're trying to reach. Next, send your mailers at the right time-like before a holiday or at the start of a new season-when people might pay more attention. Finally, follow up after your direct mail for businesses goes out. You can use other ways, like social media or in-store signs, to remind people about your message. Reach Your Local Audience Effectively In today's competitive business landscape, effective marketing is vital for success. Affordable EDDM printing and mailing services allow your business to reach potential customers in a meaningful way. By utilizing EDDM, you can enhance your marketing efforts without overspending. If you're looking to boost your local reach and put your business on the map, consider implementing EDDM strategies. Leap today! TIME BUSINESS NEWS
CNN
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Hollywood Minute: SpongeBob SquarePants' next appearance is in the mail
The USPS to sell SpongeBob stamps, Danai Gurira joins Michael B. Jordan's reimagining of 'The Thomas Crown Affair,' and 'This Is Spinal Tap' rocks on. David Daniel reports.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Much happened at Triumph Financial during the quarter; USPS dispute settled
An eventful quarter at Triumph Financial produced an earnings report that made some financial numbers seem less important than usual. But as has been the case with Triumph Financial (NASDAQ: TFIN) for most of its recent history, the company's communications in its earnings release focuses on financial performance only to a limited degree. There's far more about strategy and underlying numbers supporting that strategy. On that front, Triumph Financial's earnings per share on a GAAP basis of 15 cents per share were 10 cents per share better than forecasts, according to SeekingAlpha. Revenue was slightly higher than forecasts. However, one of the big developments at Triumph Financial for the quarter boosted that bottom line: the settlement of a long-standing dispute with the United States Postal Service. The settlement had a positive impact on pretax income both for the company's three-month and six-month net income of $12.4 million and $11.5 million, respectively. As a result of the dispute with the USPS, Triumph has been carrying a $19.4 million receivable on its books since the issue first arose. With the settlement, Graft said in his letter that Triumph Financial now has recovered all of that and more. Dispute goes back to Covenant deal The just-settled dispute over a wayward payment goes back to the Triumph acquisition of the factoring business of Covenant Logistics (NYSE: CVLG) in 2020. Triumph's stock has slid since the earnings release. Triumph Financial's stock price closed Thursday at $61.99, down from the $63.58 close that occurred just before the earnings release. On Friday, a day that stocks fell broadly, Triumph closed at $58.62, down 5.44% for the day. For the freight sector, the Triumph Financial quarterly report has voluminous data that says much about the state of the freight market as well as broader long-range plans for the company. Much of it can be found in CEO Aaron Graft's accompanying letter to shareholders where he shares not just hard information on his company's business but a philosophical outlook. That letter from Graft released Wednesday was longer than usual. Graft even joked about it on the earnings call with analysts–unique among the genre in that it is a video call–when he wondered 'not sure how many of you made it through all 34 pages of the letter that was published last evening.' Positive developments at Triumph Financial, even in the midst of a weak freight market, included the fact that annualized combined revenue in transportation–factoring, payments and intelligence–reached $237 million, up from $206 million in the prior quarter. The USPS settlement is not in that figure. In his letter, Graft said he believes the opportunity is $1 billion, 'and nothing has changed my view.' The financial impact from the USPS settlement came in Triumph Financial's factoring segment. Of the group's 13.3% quarter-on-quarter sequential improvement in revenue, 3.4% of that growth came from the USPS settlement. The group's operating margin of 48.5% saw 24.7% of that come from the USPS. Previous Graft letters and earnings call commentary have focused overwhelmingly on the company's payments network, which provides fast pay and audit services. EBITDA in the payments sector was positive for the third time in the last four quarters. The payments sector includes the audit functions that Triumph Financial acquired more than four years ago in its purchase of HubTran. It includes the quick pay activities that previously existed under the TriumphPay banner The positive EBITDA margin in payments was 13.9%. It was slightly negative in the first quarter, and was 0.5% and 8.6% in the last two quarters of 2024, respectively. Big push on intelligence But it was Triumph Financial's relatively new intelligence sector and the second quarter acquisition of Green Screens that got a large amount of attention. The intelligence group also includes the late 2024 purchase of Isometric Technologies Inc. (ISO). As a group, it is tiny so far: just $1.7 million in revenue for the quarter. But Graft in his letter said the third quarter will be used to establish a 'true base line of revenue and margin so investors can measure our performance in future periods.' The more significant role that Triumph Financial sees for its Intelligence unit is that it grows the entire package of offerings in its 'value chain' that Graft laid out in his letter. It starts with the audit services of the payments sector, which Graft said will create trust among its broker customers. With that trust established, Graft wrote, the broker customers and their truckers will look to Triumph for financing. The next step will be that some of those customers will request a digital wallet to receive those payments, an offering that is at the core of Triumph's LoadPay product. Separately, brokers will want to use the sea of data Triumph Financial holds to aid in their internal pricing models, Graft wrote. And that gets down to the intelligence unit. 'When you offer a data product, broker customers will also realize that you have a broad database of objective metrics on how carriers perform on certain loads, which they will want to help influence their routing guides, so they will ask for that to be added to the data product,' Graft wrote. One key metric in Triumph Financial's earnings has been the average invoice size it either processed in its payments segments or factored by its factoring unit. That latter number in particular has long been a focus of investors and others. During the call, Graft said Triumph might have been in error in pushing that number. 'We started training investors to look at average invoice size back when all we did was factoring,' Graft said. He said given the wider footprint of the payments unit, the size of the average invoice in that sector was more indicative of market conditions. But neither number showed any strength in freight markets. The average invoice size in payments fell sequentially to $1,186, down from $1,222 in the first quarter. But that number was higher than in the prior three quarters, including a year-ago second quarter number of $1,103. As for the factoring sector, the average invoice size there was $1,663. That is well below the second quarter figure of $1,769 and a year ago number of $1,738. Kimberly Fisk, the president of Triumph's factoring segment, said changes in the company's customer base for its factoring offerings are responsible for some of the decline in the average invoice size in that group. A change in the factoring customer mix 'As you go upmarket, you might get a diversified mix of carriers that might be doing different types of hauling,' she said on the earnings call. 'And so some might do some shorter regional type loads, which will reduce your invoice price.' If those shorter hauls are taken out of the equation, Fisk said, the average invoice price is closer to $1,200. Factoring overall has been experiencing solid growth measured by volume. The second quarter figure of 1.7 million invoices purchased came out to a purchased volume of $2.87 billion. That volume is 13.3% more than in the first quarter, but with the lower average invoice size, the purchased volume was only up 6.1%, which is still a solid sequential growth. Triumph Financial's Factoring as a Service (FaaS) offering, which offers a platform for third parties to provide their own factoring services to their own customer base, pulled in a significant new partner during the quarter: RXO. Although the RXO (NYSE: RXO) deal was announced this month, after the second quarter's close, it still could be seen as an extension of the activity at Triumph Financial that director of investor relations Luke Wyss said on the call provided a 'noisy quarter.' The partnership between RXO and Triumph involves both the FaaS offering and LoadPay. As for LoadPay, Graft's letter said the company had opened its 2,000th load pay account in June after a soft marketing rollout. By July 14, that number was up at 2,729. The 58 days from customer 1,000 to 2,000 is expected to be less than on the road to 3,000, Graft said. LoadPay's digital wallet allows the payments unit at Triumph Financial to make its payments directly to a driver or other customer's digital wallet. More articles by John Kingston At a conference of mostly green investors, AlFleet pushes marriage of AI and trucking Oregon ties itself closer to California's Advanced Clean Trucks rule, even though it may have no future A smaller Marten turns in a second quarter of 2025 much like a year earlier The post Much happened at Triumph Financial during the quarter; USPS dispute settled appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Triumph Financial Inc (TFIN) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Revenue Surge and Strategic Moves
Revenue Growth: Core transportation business experienced significant revenue growth. Credit Quality: Material improvement in credit quality. Financial Recoupment: Successful resolution and financial recoupment from the United States Postal Service. Release Date: July 17, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Triumph Financial Inc (NASDAQ:TFIN) successfully resolved a long-standing financial issue with the United States Postal Service, recovering funds owed. The core transportation business experienced significant revenue growth, indicating strong performance in this sector. Credit quality improved materially, suggesting better financial health and risk management. The acquisition and integration of Greenscreens is expected to enhance Triumph's data models and expand its market reach. The company's payments segment showed a notable improvement in EBITDA margin, with expectations for continued growth. Negative Points The quarter was described as 'noisy,' indicating potential volatility or unexpected events impacting results. The integration of Greenscreens is expected to initially result in a $3 million quarterly earnings drag. Triumph Financial Inc (NASDAQ:TFIN) faces competitive pressures, particularly in the intelligence and factoring sectors. Noninterest expenses have increased, particularly in corporate segments, due to investments in information security and infrastructure. The factoring business's average invoice size was impacted by market pressures and a shift in customer mix, potentially affecting revenue. Q & A Highlights Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with FRA:871. Q: Can you provide insights on the Greenscreens acquisition and its integration into Triumph? A: Aaron Graft, CEO, explained that Greenscreens is being integrated into Triumph over the next 90 days, enhancing their models with Triumph's $40 billion of audit and payment data. Dawn Favier, President of Intelligence, noted early positive results, with increased engagement from top freight brokers and a rise in average contract value from $37,000 to $80,000. The intelligence segment is expected to grow the fastest among Triumph's transportation businesses. Q: What are the expectations for the EBITDA margin in the payments segment? A: Todd Ritterbusch, President of Payments and Banking, stated that the EBITDA margin, which was 14% this past quarter, is expected to continue improving as revenues scale faster than expenses. The long-term goal is to achieve an EBITDA margin above 40%. Q: How does Triumph plan to monetize its TriumphPay network? A: Todd Ritterbusch highlighted that TriumphPay has been creating significant value for clients, and the company is now focusing on capturing a fair share of that value. Repricing conversations with clients have begun and are expected to accelerate, particularly with larger brokers in the coming quarters. Q: Can you discuss the competitive landscape, particularly regarding DAT's acquisition of ALCO payment platform? A: Aaron Graft acknowledged DAT's entry into the factoring space with the acquisition but emphasized that competition is a part of capitalism. Triumph remains focused on its strengths and continues to compete with numerous factoring companies. Q: What are the expectations for credit trends and charge-offs for the remainder of the year? A: Aaron Graft noted that normalized charge-offs were less than $1 million, indicating a strong credit performance. Todd Ritterbusch added that credit losses are expected to remain at the low end of historical ranges, with no significant deviations anticipated. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
