Dateline: June 12, 2009. OK - AS PROMISED - HERE'S AN UPDATE! As of the very end of May, our house has some wonderful, delightful, fantastic new people in it (yay!)! What an adventure... that whole escrow experience had more twists and turns and surprises and false leads and red herrings than any reasonable person might have imagined - but we got through it and what an education it has been! (It was the process of it all that was so difficult - our buyers were/are the greatest! For the full story, we'll have to get together over coffee or some other strong beverage... I'd love to hear about any experience you've had with this kind of thing too, because I'm still trying to figure out how to think about all that went the way it did...) BUT Anyway - Jerry and I and our two cats are currently staying in a friend's condo about 4 miles away, which we're renting for the duration while Jerry's contract with the University finishes up, and we'll likely stay on as we use this as a base for scouting out a new home near Portland, Oregon. (I'm told that escrow is not nearly as complicated there, but I'm going to wait and see... LOL!) Nearly everything we own is currently packed away in PODS (fantastic system for situations like ours, must say!) My Dad, who currently is still in his own apartment in the next town over, will be having cataract surgery in two weeks, and once he's recovered from that, then the three of us will make a serious scouting trip north. Don't know how to guess how fast this next leg of the adventure is going to go - we'd love to be in a house by September, and it's certainly possible given that we've got just about all our paperwork in order at this point - but I wouldn't be placing any bets on it just yet. Now for the most important question you're likely waiting to see me address: yes - Flute Network will need to continue to be on hiatus for the time being. While I've been in regular communication with our printer and others who make it possible, and all stand ready to pick it up again when we see our way to do so (yay for that too! SUCH fantastic people, all of them!) - right at this moment I honestly can't promise exactly when that might be. The door is open though. And all are willing. So do stay tuned! Thanks for your continued interest and support - that's both what makes it possible at all, and also is exactly what it's all about! We really are all in this together! All best wishes - lots more later - Jan
P.S. -- You may be relieved to know that NO COOKIES have been placed in your computer as a result of visiting this website! It is our hope that you will find something useful to you here, and that you will feel comfortable coming back often (our content changes with every print issue published...).
As a service, we maintain a page for Masterclasses - Worldwide! The the 2009 MASTERCLASSES- giving dates, locations, and contact people, etc., is available as a free service and we hope you may find it useful! We expand these postings on a regular basis, as information is received along with permission to list it... (for a while, the 2008 Masterclass list and contact info is still available there - if you're curious about particular 2009 plans, you might contact last years coordinator about the current status of their ideas).
(Please be aware - we can't guarantee anything posted at a linked site as a result of this public service! Do let us know if you find something, um.... well, "surprising" is one way to say it! We promise to do our best to include only reputable, reliable information and links, however there still seem to be some pirate computer programs becoming active again these days which literally capture or kidnap requests to visit websites and side-track them to sites of their own [usually - of, well, "surprising" content and images...]... Should this happen to you - *please* let both The Flute Network AND the originally desired site link know about your experience, along with any info you can glean about where you were taken! We will call in whatever authorities may be needed or useful and generally speaking do our part in helping to stamp out this unfortunate kind of piracy. Thanks!)
P.S. I'm still pretty new at this Webwizard stuff- so if you encounter anything we need to correct or adjust, please let me know! Your input and feedback will be most welcome!
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UPDATE - January 10, 2009 - Although we'd not expected it, a "flute call in the sky" has gone out and our help is needed once again to help shed light on a very new aspect of USPS mail deliveries. As part of the Intelligent Mail Barcode scanning process, the very last scan a mailpiece gets is considered to be the "Exit Scan" by the USPS and is regarded by them as THE date of final delivery. However - we've been alerted that sometimes (how often - nobody knows...yet...) there is indeed a lag of sometimes a matter of a few days between that "Exit Scan" and actual receipt and it's precisely that piece of the puzzle we're curious about (we and many others!) There's probably nobody better to ask for help in this than our wonderful Flute Network subscribers - hence - that "flute call in the sky" (kinda like that call to Batman in those early comics) that was shared and described in our January issue, alerting folks to be on the lookout for their next issue (i.e., the February issue that went to press today). On each issue, in a box highlighted in the address panel, a unique six digit code will be printed -- we've asked folks to note the date of receipt in that box as well, and at their earliest convenience, to let Jan Pritchard know both those pieces of info: (1) date of actual receipt, and (2) that unique six digit code. At some point later this coming Spring, Jan will get togther with the fine folks at GrayHair Software and compare the data collected by them as to the exit scans (which are matched to that same unique six digit code) and the dates reported to Jan as being those of actual receipt. At this point, nobody really knows what we're going to find - so the adventure really truly does continue! As always - your help is very much appreciated! More on these things as the info evolves.
UPDATE - September 10, 2008 - The fact that there even is a September/October 2008 issue means that we've found some powerful friends - and an awful lot of things went really right! To begin with, if it weren't for the support of the fantastic advertisers, there would not be a Flute Network at all (please - when you get a chance - take every opportunity to let them know you saw their ads and appreciate their participation, OK?) On top of that though, a HUGE Thanks go to GrayHair Software and the wonderful folks there - plus the extra efforts of the fantastic folks at Colour Concepts Incorporated (and especially the folks in Mailing Services there), every issue of Flute Network going out now is carrying it's own Intelligent Mail Barcode -- This is a special "4 Stage" barcode that acts sort of like a license plate on a car... it registers addresses only - not the people at the addresses, that's important to know. Now, why this is a cool thing is that the USPS has scanners in the mail processing machinery, all along the route that each mail piece travels through the mail system, and when one of them "see" a Flute Network with an IMB on it, it makes a note about it and informs the folks at GrayHair Software that it did - and also precisely when it did. This special barcode is going to be required on ALL mail sent like ours beginning in May of 2009, so it is something we would have had to do - only we've been blessed with a sort of "head start". What's going to happen is, we're going to see if the changes in processing that the USPS put in place this past summer really are helping.... or not.... and if there's any place in particular where things are bottling up, etc. So again - Flute Network subscribers are continuing to help in a material, substantial, way - and again, I thank you most sincerely!
Update - May 21, 2008. The Postal Regulatory Commission, having been charged by Congress to compile a report to them about the Universal Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly, set up a special docket where the public, postal participants and those who would provide testiminoy (this time called Statements) on those big issues - PI2008-3. As a part of filling this charge, the three Commissioners of the PRC set up on-site visits to postal units around the country, and three formal field Hearings where formal statements were provided and questions could be asked (in real time) - I (as part of Flute Network) was invited to provide a statement in person at the very first of them - their field hearing in Flagstaff, AZ on May 21, 2008. The invitation to appear at this field hearing was a surprise and came on very short notice - and there were a number of significant challenges that had to be figured out just even getting to Flagstaff at that date and time - but as with so many things that are part of Flute Network history, all worked out surprising well. It was a real honor to get to participate so directly, and to meet and share ideas with so many amazing folks also involved in these questions.
At the Flagstaff hearing, there would be 8 of us to offer statements and take questions from the three Commissioners. Because we only had 5 minutes each to speak, I (and a few others) provided additional documents for their consideration -- in my case, I provided two Statements -- my written statement is much longer and contains much more of the story and background information than I could possibly have gotten in under the 5 minute limit -- and the shorter oral statement, which is much shorter and is - basically - an enhanced "highlight reel" and pure "advertisement" for the longer written one...
Now, I am DEEPLY and sincerely grateful that the PRC accepted as my "Oral Statement" as an independent offering to the docket, and they labeled it as such - because - well, to put it bluntly: while in Flagstaff (I was to learn), I was not very good about speaking as s - l - o - w - l - y as I should have, and as directly into the microphone as I should have, so that a good clear transcript could be made by the reporter who was there literally transcribing on the fly all that was said, and by who, in each hearing... (Bless her heart, I think she caught just about every third word so my part in the official transcript of the whole hearing came out pretty disjointed and on the whole, rather incoherent... that's a mistake I will never make again! (i.e., lesson learned!)) Still - I recommend the whole transcript for those so inclined, as well as those from the other two field hearings - lots of unique insights shared in there from a variety of perspectives. On the whole, I think the whole field hearing effort on the part of the Commissioners was most excellent and I look forward to reading the final report to come - that's expected sometime in December 2008.
Both statements can be found in the compiled Statements as part of Docket PI2008-3 at the PRC.gov website - or can be be found here too, in PDF format:
Update - January 1, 2008: Much to our surprise, there was indeed a Chapter Three, for 2008! Full details in the Greetings section of our January 2008 issue. (click here...to go there directly)... Again - our subscribers came through in stellar form - and in hindsight, we found that the compiled data reinforced the findings from our prior postal studies... and the interest on the part of the USPS and other major mailers has been both heartwarming and validating as well. Perhaps best of all, the USPS has indeed - as of this summer of 2008 - put into effect new rules for the handling of our class of mail, so our work together has now shown tangible outcomes - togther, we have indeed made a positive difference! THANK YOU so much to all of our Flute Network subscribers!! You have made a difference - again - and we couldn't be more proud of you!
Update - Aug. 20, 2007: On June 13, 2007, the Postal Regulatory Commission put out Notice calling for public comments and discussion related to Modern Service Standards and Performance Measurement for Market Dominant Products for the USPS.... and we were again honored to respond to a personal invitation to participate. Our biggest concern has to do with the notion of Standard Mail being "deferable" - and what that meant operationally for the handling and ultimate delivery of mail pieces like Flute Network - but more importantly, for companies and other entities for whom such delays can have very devistating consequences! You can read the PDF of what Flute Network filed on July 14th, 2007 here: Flute Network Comments, Docket PI2007-1.
UPDATE: May 30, 2007 - OK, here's the scoop: Wanting to find out what kind of difference there may be (if any) in the delivery of Flute Networks now that they're moving from "west to east" (out of San Bernardino, CA) instead of "east to west" (out of Waynesville, NC), we asked for your help in letting us know when you got your February and March 2007 issues, and the zip code where you received them. Again - Flute Network subscribers came through - thank you SO much!
All of this 2007 information is now compiled and charted - and we did learn some rather interesting things about USPS Standard Mail A (nonprofit, automated letter mail) that - as it turns out - others were very interested in as well! (Stick your head out of the sand and guess what: you get put on a committee!) To cut to the chase: in March 2007, I was invited to be a part of MTAC #114 - a workgroup comprised of USPS folks and other major players in the mailing industry - and the information we've been collecting together as The Flute Network is now actively being considered for what insights it might offer to our collective work. (Thank you again!)
Our report for this MTAC #114 is now ready to share. It is available here via PDF download, and is rather sizable (OK - it's just plain big. This version includes all the supportive materials such as copies of the Postal Forms, all the raw data and their maps, and other appendices.) A second PDF is also available here, which includes just the narrative.... At the moment, this is the only format we have for making these reports generally available - you will need to have a PDF reader (such as Adobe Reader, for example) in order for the file to open for you.... I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. OK - here ya go:
OK - we'll keep you posted about further developments as they happen and as we learn of them! To all who have assisted us with this work, I can't thank you enough -- you've proven yet again just how special Flute Network subscribers are by your participation and all your support in this investigation.
FLUTE NETWORK TESTIMONY AND RELATED FILES with the POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION (formerly known as the Postal Rate Commission) UPDATE - February 26, 2007: the PRC has released their OPINION! ...AND... WHAT WE DID MATTERED!
are now fully available online!
Click HERE - for how to find all that.
Here's
where you can read more about that, and how they incorporated our concerns into their recommendations to the USPS!
