New Business and Regulatory Strategies in the Postal Sector

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Postal Operators as “Ground Based” Online Platforms?

   • Paula Gori, Pier Luigi Parcu

   Pages 1-14

3. Inducing Optimal Quality Under Price Caps: Why, How, and Whether

   • Timothy J. Brennan

   Pages 15-28

4. Challenges of Regulating Quality of Service in the Postal Industry

   • Henrik Ballebye Okholm, Bruno Basalisco, Anna Möller Boivie, Jimmy Gårdebrink

   Pages 29-43

5. Creating Last-Mile Incentives from Inside-Out. A Template Drawn from Rural Telecom

   • Victor Glass

   Pages 45-54

6. Crowdsourcing the Last Mile

   • Michael D. Bradley, Jeff Colvin, Mary K. Perkins

   Pages 55-66

7. Lessons from Other Network Industries: Should Posts Seek to Collaborate More in the Last Mile?

   • Adam Houck, Bernhard Bukovc

   Pages 67-78

8. Consolidation in Urban Logistics: What Could We Learn from Past Experiences and Economy Theory?

   • Claire Borsenberger

   Pages 79-89

9. Design and Enforcement of Compensation Funds After Confetra: A Legal and Economic Analysis

   • Alessandra Fratini, Marc Chovino

   Pages 91-104

10. Is the Compensation Fund an Appropriate Tool for Financing Universal Postal Service Obligations?

    • Vincenzo Visco-Comandini

    Pages 105-118

11. Compensation Fund in Postal Service: A Step Forward After the Polish Case

    • S. Romito, S. Gori, A. Rovero

    Pages 119-130

12. Open-Data: A Solution When Data Constitutes an Essential Facility?

    • Claire Borsenberger, Mathilde Hoang, Denis Joram

    Pages 131-142

13. Vertical Integration in the E-Commerce Sector

    • Claire Borsenberger, Helmuth Cremer, Denis Joram, Jean-Marie Lozachmeur

    Pages 143-160

14. Prices and Conditions of Access to the Postal Network: The Principle of Non-Discrimination

    • Til Rozman

    Pages 161-174

15. The Impact of Increasing Competition for Non-Contract Parcels on Postal Prices and Efficiency Decisions

    • Philippe De Donder, Frank Rodriguez, Soterios Soteri

    Pages 175-189

16. Disoriented No More: An Economics Compass for the EU’s Cost Orientation Principle

    • Henrik Ballebye Okholm, Mindaugas Cerpickis, Bruno Basalisco

    Pages 191-206

17. How Price Sensitive Is Letter Advertising Mail in the UK?

    • Frédérique Fève, Thierry Magnac, Leticia Veruete-McKay, Soterios Soteri

    Pages 207-217

18. Brand, Product Differentiation and Postal Market Outcomes

    • Isabelle Carslake, George Houpis, Ellie Monaghan

    Pages 219-233

19. E-Government: A Curse or an Opportunity for Posts?

    • Blandine Eggrickx, Olaf Klargaard, Marine Lefort, Philippe Régnard

    Pages 235-249

20. Relating Postal Activity to the Business Cycle by Linear Regression with Integral Equations

    • Katalin K. Clendenin, Soiliou D. Namoro, Edward S. Pearsall

    Pages 251-268

This book addresses major issues facing postal and delivery services throughout the world. Worldwide, there is currently a considerable amount of interest in postal and delivery economics. The industry is reacting to a state of near crisis and is implementing different drastic changes. The European Commission and member States are still wrestling with the problem of how to implement entry liberalization into postal markets, how to address digital competition, and how to maintain the universal service obligation (USO). The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 in the U.S. has perhaps created and exacerbated the problems faced by USPS.

Digitalisation, technological development and online platforms are strongly affecting both the way postal and delivery operators are managing their services as well as their role on the market. Strong emphasis was attributed to the assets of Postal Operators (POs) and their added value in the digital age as well as on new business strategies.

This volume presents original essays by prominent researchers in the field, selected and edited from papers presented at this year’s 26th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics held in Split, Croatia, from May 30- June 2, 2018.Topics addressed by this volume include quality of service, last mile solutions, and competition in the liberalized market. This book will be a useful tool not only for graduate students and professors, but also for postal administrations, consulting firms, and federal government departments.   

• postal regulation
• parcel delivery
• e-commerce
• delivery liberalization
• postal network
• postal sector

• Florence School of Regulation – Communications and Media, European University Institute, Fiesole, Italy

  Pier Luigi Parcu

• School of Public Policy, UMBC, Baltimore, USA

  Timothy J. Brennan

• Rutgers Business School, Newark, USA

  Victor Glass

Pier Luigi Parcu is part-time Professor at the European University Institute (EUI) from 2010. He is currently Area Director of the FSR Communications & Media, Director of the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and Director of the Florence Competition Programme in Law and Economics.  He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). His research in the area of industrial organization and law and economics focuses on the interaction between regulation and antitrust in shaping firms’ behaviour. As regards research in the media and Internet areas, Professor Parcu’s interests focus on the effects of ownership concentration and internal governance of the media enterprise on pluralism and freedom of expression and on the influence of offline business models on new economic developments related to online platforms, smart cities and artificial intelligence.

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