Direct & Current

AS PREDICTED HERE LAST MONTH, United States 30-year bonds are being reissued. The Treasury Department killed the bonds in October 2001 when the government last ran a surplus. The Iraq War, tax reductions, and other spending has since driven the government debt to about $7.8 trillion. The bonds have been used for decades by pension funds and others to lock away money.

U.S. MAIL VOLUME IS UP. Despite faxes, e-mail, and ubiquitous cell phones, the U.S. Postal Service last month reported mail volume rose 2.4% over 2004. Package services were up 7.7%, priority mail 7.5%, express mail 4%, international mail 2.3%, and first class mail 0.2%.

U.S. AIRLINES ARE LAGGING ON INTERNETACCESS despite the fact that you can find wireless access in coffee houses and hotels. Overseas airlines are increasing access, but no U.S. airline has yet signed on to Boeing's "Connexion" service. United Airlines has said it will offer Internet access "sometime next year."

ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS EXPECT RISING SALES during the third quarter of this year, according to the National Association of Electrical Distributors. Among firms surveyed by the association, 81.1% estimated their sales would increase, whereas a smaller number, 73.6%, saw increases in the first quarter. Distributors are expecting this trend to continue, NAED states, with a 10% growth expected by nearly a third of the respondents.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH DELL COMPUTERS took a tumble, as consumer complaints of long wait times for help and trouble increased, according to the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index. Dell fell further behind Apple, which has been number one in satisfaction for two years.

THE EDITORS