A national plan to improve the current PCC network also was developed during 2004. Key components of the plan were the establishment of a central PCC database, the reintroduction of National PCC Day, and the improvement of educational workshops and seminars. PCC Day, held May 26 in Boxborough, MA, was the most successful in the history of the Postal Service with more than 7,000 viewing the Postmaster General via satellite. To enhance the value of PCC membership education the PCC team launched the Mail Center Professional Certificate Program, which previously was offered only at the NPF.

d. Advertising with Mail — Made Easy Seminar

The Advertising with Mail — Made Easy Seminar is now in its fifth year with a total of more than 200 seminars completed in cities across America. In 2004, 28 seminars provided more than 1,700 businesses with the information and tools necessary to effectively use the mail to advertise their products and services.

e. Mailing Industry Task Force

Following the success of its Phase I initiative in 2003, the Mailing Industry Task Force (MITF) announced a new Phase II initiative beginning in 2004. The MITF Steering Committee reorganized its industry/postal working group structure and shifted its focus to support two strategic objectives: stimulate mail channel revenue growth and make mail more effective. This restructuring added new members to the Steering Committee and resulted in three new working groups — Intelligent Mail/Address Quality, Pricing/Payment, and New Products/Services/Gateway — replacing seven work groups. An eighth committee on industry unification continues to operate independently as the Industry CEO Council. MITF currently involves more than 72 companies and some 200 industry and Postal Service executives. The Deputy Postmaster General and the chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes serve as co-chairs of the Task Force.

Since the restructuring of the MITF, the Steering Committee and the three working groups are better positioned to operate in a collaborative process with a wide variety of business segments, including representatives from the vendor community, mail service providers, and end-use customers. As part of its change in direction, the MITF also developed an initiative to promote creation of innovative ideas to expand use of the mail by business and individual consumers. The Innovation Incubator Initiative was launched with a two-day Innovation Summit held at Postal Service Headquarters. The summit attracted more than 30 executives from Fortune 100 and other leading-edge companies and produced more than 90 concepts targeted for further study and possible development. Postal and industry executives hailed the event as a potential model for ongoing innovation generation efforts by the Postal Service and the Task Force.

With the launch of Phase II complete and its activities underway, the MITF is well-positioned to capitalize on innovative approaches with which it can achieve its new strategic objectives. It will continue to update the mailing industry by reporting on its progress at NPF.

f. Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee

The Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) was formed in the 1960s to tap into mailing industry interest and expertise to improve service, identify and solve problems, and refine systems and technology to respond to mailer needs. MTAC, an alliance between the Postal Service and industry experts, consists of 56 major mailing associations and other organizations.

When both Postal Service and industry members agree that an initiative is important enough to pursue jointly, a work group is assembled to pursue a target timeframe and objective. Progress is measured at the quarterly General Session meetings at Postal Service Headquarters.

g. Customer and Industry Conferences

In 2004 a new process was developed to make conferences available to officers and executives of the Postal Service by focusing on specific categories such as: advertising, associations, business, database and direct marketing, government, marketing, media, packaging, shipping and printing. A Customer Industry Conference Web site was developed to track historical data on conferences (past and present), as well as provide a centralized format for Postal Service Executives to ensure that the availability of upcoming events match their respective schedules.

h. Mail Technology Strategy Council

The Postal Service sponsors a Mail Technology Strategy Council that includes representatives from the mailing industry, paper manufacturing, printing, packaging, mail equipment, and information technology industries. Council members provide independent advice on changes in technology that are likely to impact the mailing industry in the next decade. Members provide their thoughts on where technology is heading and how these trends might be used to enhance the mailing industry. The group reviewed developments in digital printing and its use in advertising and billing applications, developments and standards in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), new technologies for remote sensing, and changes in the software industry with the development of middleware, which allows reading and writing data to the host application without making changes to the host code.