May/June 2008

                            

UPDATE - January 1, 2008: Much to our surprise, there is indeed going to be a Chapter Three, for 2008! Full details in the Greetings section of our January 2008 issue (click here...to go there directly)... We're still in the process of collecting information and hope to begin analysis in the coming weeks. 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:

• Flute Network Full Report on Service Performance, Service performance data report prepared by subgroup participant Jan Pritchard, The Flute Network (this is the full report, which is a very large file)
• Flute Network Partial Report on Service Performance, Service performance data report prepared by subgroup participant Jan Pritchard, The Flute Network (abbreviated version -- this one is the narrative only, and does not contain the postal forms, raw data and some appendices)

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.

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 2008 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 2007 Masterclass list and contact info is still available there - if you're curious about particular 2008 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!)

   Contact Us

• Little Wizard Enterprises exists as a service to help keep hard-to-find books, cassettes, cd's and other interesting things available to those who want to find them! To see what we currently have available, please check us out at Little Wizard's Inventory.