ParamountScapin 

Anyone know anything about this? My friends in the business world tell me that Postal will pull the plug pre-TdF due to political pressures, etc. I don't get to read the full article as am not a subscriber to AA.

Exclusive: Post office won't deliver for Armstrong
by IRA TEINOWITZ and RICH THOMASELLI
The Postal Service is poised to abandon its lead sponsorship of Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Pro Cycling Team just as the star cyclist gears up his quest for a record sixth straight Tour de France win. Mr. Armstrong's agent, Bill Stapleton, said he has been ...


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skiahh

Thought I read somewhere they were ending their sponsorship at the end of this year. Not positive about it, though.

parakeethouse

GOT A LINK?

ChipRGW

Me too. I think the deal was thier contract is thru this season. They are allegedly talking about not renewing thier contract.
It'd be pretty stupid to pull out before Lance goes for 6. If he does get it, it'll be great value.

bac

Here's the politic issue:
Politics @ Work

Here's the real story:
Facts sans Politics

Laggard

https://www.adage.com/paypoints/buyAr...Id=43832&auth=

TriDevil

Is the US Postal Service such a large corrupt organization that there really needs to be a 'postal watch' website? Are these people just overly concerned about postage going up another cent? Dont get me wrong, with the contract up this year usps needs to step back, evaluate whether they are making an acceptable return on this investment. They shouldnt quit sponsorship because some group doesnt like spending american money on a mostly european sport with many european riders on the team.

velocipedio

considering that the usps has a contract running to the end of the year, it would be really stoopid to pull out just before the tdf, since they'll still be contractually obligated to tailwind sports.

OneTinSloth

-from lancearmstrong.com

HAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! what a joke..."truly miniscule" my ass.

Laggard

What's surprising is how hard it is to find sponsorship for cycling teams. It costs around 10 million a year to run a team. 10 million when compared to the total marketing budgets of some companies is nothing. McDonalds spent 627 million on advertising in '99. Chrysler has an advertising budget of roughly 1.5 billion dollars. Companies rountinely spend 2 million for 30 seconds of TV time during the super bowl.

I'm amazed that a company like Wal-Mart hasn't realized the benefits of sponsoring a european or American team. Think about how often their name would be seen. It seems like a cheap way to get a lot of press.

bac

Actually, it is VERY miniscule. It's 0.0156% of the USPS's total expense budget. To put that into perspective, if a company had an annual expense budget of $1 million dollars, .0156% would equate to $13/month. This $10 million dollar figure also equates to 3.3% of the USPS's total advertising budget. Where can you get more exposure for your company for 3.3% of your advertising budget? When put in its proper perspective, the USPS sponsorship of this cycling team is indeed an amazing bargain.

Regardless, all of this is such a joke given the efficiency of the post office. If this "watchdog" group were to go for the low hanging fruit, I'm sure they would find WAY MORE WASTE IN ONE DAY than it costs to annually sponsor the entire cycling team.

Do the Math!

bac

Political pressure trumps all logic in an election year!

ParamountScapin 

Here is the link to the start of the article.

https://www.adage.com/paypoints/buyAr...Id=43832&auth=

RacerX

Yes they are.
You are telling me you are not concerned when your expenses rise?
Gimmie a break, the USPS is wasteful and they need to bring themselves into check.

Guest

If they're broke, how are they able to buy those Segways for their carriers? What, they can't walk or ride a bike?

Koffee

ParamountScapin 

And the place to start saving those dollars is to cut out the obscene bonuses that the top managers now pay themselves. They run a multi-billion dollar deficet and then give themselves bonuses in the multi-hundreds and tens-of-thousands of dollars. Disgusting. Especially as it is your and my tax dollars.

originalbart

Pretty neat to be able to watch this debate from the outside (Canada). I can tell you that, having grown up during the 70s/80s, we got a lot of our news and TV feeds from the U.S. and I can say that the USPS was the brunt of every second joke from the States. I have to believe that their sponsorship of this team has done wonders for their image... the postie jokes just don't seem to happen much anymore.

I know that not everyone pays attention like those of us that have a vested interest in cycling, but you have to believe the logo and the message are reaching people like they never did before.

auricpoe

Oh man....has anyone seen the US budget lately? Our government in billions in debt and you guys are complaining about the postal service....COME ON....I think we need to get out gov't buget set first, our taxes pay for that too ya know.....

RacerX

You have the USPS logo as your avatar and yet you know nothing about how the USPS is run.

RacerX

100% agree with you.

RacerX

Investing money into getting people their mail quicker and more efficiently is not what I consider wasteful spending. Maybe the segway works, maybe it doesn't but it certainly is a worthy investment to see if it helps operations.

Management spending sprees and expenses are wasteful spending.

auricpoe

and you know this how??? I didnt say anything about the USPS....i was talking about our government as an entity....its corrupt and everyone knows it...thats all.......

roadwarrior

Your agenda is showing...do you own any stock (assuming you are old enough)? Do you ask for an accounting of the advertising expenditures and ROI of any and all companies in which you might own stock? I wonder how much business UPS gets because of its sponsorship of Dale Jarrett? DHL due to its association with Jordan Formula One? I am also guessing that adovcation of the elimination of any and all advertising for the Postal Service is in order?

This might be the funniest thread I've read in a long time.

Funny, because United Parcel Service just started an ad campaign touting European service. Many do not know that UPS and USPS are competitors in the European market.

Not sure about the rest of you folks, but I own a company that does a lot of electronic mailing for free. I can send letters in pouches via a number of sources. Fed Ex, UPS, just for starters. The original point, way back in 1996 when the first Posties rode the Tour was to advertise for overseas business (I still have a video copy of the first TV ad they ever did for the cycling team). In my world the only monopoly the Postal Service has is on Christmas cards. And I can email those, too, if I want.

Regardless, there will be a sponsor obtained to keep the team going since Lance said he wants to ride one more Tour after this July. It will be interesting to see who gets title billing when he goes for his seventh. Folks, Lance's friends in the sporting world are deep and numerous. This is a guy who had Phil Knight take care of expenses when he was recovering from cancer. Since there are now a number of U23 development teams in place to keep the momentum going (Vaughters is DS of one, for example), it would make sense for a US company to get involved. Adidas is big with T-Mobile...imagine Nike becoming the title sponsor for Lance's team.

And Postal will not pull out before the contract ends....they will get sued. Thom Weisel is not someone with whom you mess around.

How many know that they sponsor TWO cycling teams (ohmygawd!!)???

You do realize that in 1996 when they started, they basically sucked and Lance was on Motorola (and supposedly on his way to Cofidis) and they had no idea that this would grow into the sponsorship of the world's best cycling team? And FIVE TDF wins in a row.

Funny how nobody was screaming back then.....

By the way....don't tell the members of this group that they are sponsoring a bike team...

They might have to start a "watch group"

Where's the watch group for these guys?

And these guys?

And these guys?



In defense of the Postal Service, they tried to recoup some of their money by telling Trek that if they were going to put the Postal Service logo on their bike, they had to pay them. You will note that the seat post on 5200's and up now says "OCLV120" or "OCLV110".

roadwarrior

Top managers do not pay themselves bonuses. They are accountable to a Board of Directors for such expenditures. If the Board advocates such, then THEY are accountable. And that keeps many attorneys in business.

Most top managers (officers of organizations) are on contract and their bonus program is part of the contract that was approved by the Board.

ChipRGW

Can anyone out there advise me on a way that I can send someone a physical letter in Tennesee? Wait, I want to do it for less than a dollar, but still have it there within 2-3 days.
Fed-ex?
UPS?
DHL?

Nope... USPS!
I am frankly SICK of all the whining about the Postal service. They do it cheaper and on par with most of the other services out there.
They could EASILY raise the cost of a stamp and STILL be by far the cheapest option out there. Then thier budget concerns would be a thing of the past. Of course they can't, they need gov't approval to do that.

Whatever...