Friday, September 14, 2012

Farewell to Courier Express and Postal Observer



Please see the Sept. 19 update, Courier Express and Postal Observer Lives Again.

In messages to his Twitter followers last night, respected postal commentator Alan Robinson announced that he will be shutting down his Courier Express and Postal Observer blog tomorrow.

"Courier Express and Postal Observer will come to end on September 15th as I am not renewing my hosting agreement," he wrote. "Wish everyone who works on issues well as I am done for now. I have to take care of myself and writing takes too much time."

"I love writing but I cared too much about readers and not myself; I dug a hole worse than usps," he explained to one follower. "I'm also very frustrating watching the USPS constrict itself as that is what can pass Congress; makes no business sense."

It's fitting that his (apparently) last article for the blog shows that "the House is unlikely to tackle any significant legislation before the end of the fiscal year." It's vintage Alan, digging into the dry details of government and using his extensive knowledge and contacts to tell us what it all means.

Also vintage Alan was his Twitter exchange yesterday with Rep. Dennis Ross, an influential Florida Republican, about the battle between the Tampa Bay Rays and Alan's beloved Orioles. Alan managed not to gloat too much when the Orioles pulled out a victory in the 14th inning.

The blog describes Alan as "Executive Director of the Center for the Study of the Postal Market, is editor of the Postal Journal, and President of Direct Communications Group. In the few hours of the day he isn’t thinking about the postal market, he enjoys listening to the Baltimore Orioles baseball games as it appears that the day has come that they will finish the season with a winning record."

He also advocates for research funds and better education regarding digestive diseases and oral cancer.

Some people consider me a postal expert, but I'm an amateur in comparison with Alan. I will miss his blog and have invited him to write guest articles for Dead Tree Edition if the writing and commenting bug ever hits him again.
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4 comments:

  1. D. Eadward TreeSeptember 14, 2012 at 12:57 PM

    A self-described "critic" of Alan Robinson wrote to me noting that the site already seems to have gone silent and stating, "There's a ton of good archival material on there that would be well worth preserving. Would he be willing to transfer that material to another site?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. D. Eadward TreeSeptember 14, 2012 at 1:06 PM

    Lisa Bowes of Intelisent published this fitting tribute today (http://www.intelisent.com/postalaffairsblog/farewell-to-courier-express-and-postal-observer/): "I can’t find the words to express what a huge loss this is to the postal community at large. I have long looked to this resource to learn about Postal, blog writing, and the written word in general. I too, like Mr. Tree, will be immediately feeling the void left by Alan Robinson’s departure. I owe a debt of gratitude for what he has shared. Farewell, and adieu…

    ReplyDelete
  3. OGSeptember 16, 2012 at 5:09 PM

    That's right Dead Tree! I find myself in complete agreement with your last paragraph.

    I also wish Mr. Robinson well and I hope to see his further writings on postal affairs.

    OG

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2012 at 5:42 AM

    His site is back up today.

    ReplyDelete

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