Australia Post will soon charge customers an extra 50 cents per parcel sent overseas by air mail to cover the cost of upgraded security. The price rise is planned from September 1. It covers business and private air mail and economy air mail parcels sent overseas, not letters. The hike was revealed during Senate estimate hearings this week.
Read MorePitney Bowes has teamed up with Royal Mail to offer an outsourced document management service to large-volume direct mailers. The management services division of Pitney Bowes (PBMS) was approached by Royal Mail 12 months ago to develop a broader range of document services from ‘data to doorstep’. RMPB (Royal Mail Pitney Bowes) was then set up to target Royal Mail’s customer base, specifically its larger blue-chip clients. PBMS is run as an independent division of Pitney Bowes, added Bailey, and would not encroach on its mailing line manufacturing.
Read MoreThe Argentinean subsidiary of Hewlett Packard (HP) will be the first of the group’s subsidiaries to implement its global logistics accord with DHL, the US express delivery company. DHL will provide logistics and post-sale support services to HP in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. HP will store its products in a DHL warehouse in Buenos Aires.
Read MoreThe U.S. Postal Service will fall short of meeting federal mandates to
deliver mail six days a week and cover its costs without further cutting
expenses and dropping money-losing services, the top congressional watchdog
official said. The postal service “is not well-suited to operate efficiently” and must go beyond its own USD3 billion annual cost-cutting plan to survive, General Accounting Office head David Walker told a presidential postal strategy
panel. Postmaster General John Potter defended the agency at the Washington
hearing, saying he wouldn’t allow a reduction in delivery frequency “on his watch.”
Royal Mail’s First Class service is at its most reliable for seven years.
Announcing quality of service results for the 02/03 financial year, the company said the performance of the First Class service improved cumulatively by nearly two per cent over the previous year. For the full year 2002/3 91.8 per cent of First Class letters were delivered next day compared with 89.9 per cent the year before. The licence issued by the regulator, Postcomm, sets a year-end target for the month of February and March. Performance in February and March was 91.7 per cent against a target of 92.5 per cent.
AN Post has embarked on a programme of disposal of non-core assets starting with the sale of the GPO Arcade – the shopping mall of small stores which links Henry Street and Princes St in Central Dublin – for over EUR5m. An Post would not comment on the development last night, but the State postal company is understood to have requested permission from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, in the last few days to put the arcade on the market.
Read MoreRoyal Mail bosses today said their service was “not good enough” after a watchdog revealed more than a million first-class letters fail to arrive on time every day. New performance figures for the period April 2002 to March 2003 showed Royal Mail had not met 80% of its delivery targets. The group’s chief executive, Adam Crozier, told Channel 4 News: “We are improving and we are getting better. However, it is absolutely not good enough. “We have a number of plans in place to solve this – it’s very important for our business and social customers that we do – and I’m confident that we can and will improve.” Royal Mail missed almost twice as many performance targets as last year, meeting only three of 16 set for the period.
Read MoreRoyal Mail could face an unlimited fine for failing to meet 80 per cent of its delivery targets, it has emerged. The group failed nearly twice as many performance targets as last year, meeting only three out of 16 targets set for the period covering April 2002 to March 2003. According to Postwatch, the postal services watchdog, Royal Mail missed the minimum performance levels for the delivery of first and second class post and also failed to meet targets for its heavily advertised special delivery service. The poor record means that Postcomm, the postal regulator, could levy an unlimited fine on the company. “We will consider what action we will take, including financial penalties, at the next postal commissioner’s meeting,” Postcomm said.
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