A further five postal operators have joined a pilot of the IPC Sustainability Measurement and Management (SMMS) Programme as of January 2023. The new entrants to the SMMS include the postal administrations of Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Thailand.
Read MoreThe Kahala Posts Group, an alliance of 10 postal operators from Europe, Asia and America that aims to more effectively compete internationally with the large integrators, met in Barcelona this week to discuss strategy.
Read MoreThe Kahala Posts Group (KPG), an alliance of 10 leading postal services, forecast revenue growth of 9% for 2009 despite the global financial crisis.
Read MoreAustralia Post’s Managing Director, Graeme John, foresees cutbacks on flights and a shift towards sea and rail deliveries with regard to the annual meeting of the Kahala Posts Group last week.
John said that growth in international freight from consumer goods such as electronics had been managed on a “just in time” basis, with air delivery preferred to other means of transport due to its speed advantage. But that approach was no longer viable as global warming would have an enormous influence on the postal industry worldwide increasing the pressure to shift towards less environmentally-damaging modes of delivery.
The Kahala Posts Group (KPG) which is the alliance of nine national postal administrations in Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Britain, was founded five years ago and named after a resort the members stayed at during their founding meeting in Hawaii. The postal operators have since launched an upgraded, guarantee-based international service between their respective countries and territories.
Therefore, Kahala Group focused instead on reliability of delivery. But to keep the reliability of the service, the Kahala members had to upgrade their tracking systems. It also required the creation of a “delivery calculator”, a database of eight billion postcodes that allows a customer to walk into any postal outlet, list their destination and be told a precise time window during which a parcel would be delivered, Brisbane Times further reported.
While the private couriers already offered that service and faster delivery, the Kahala members undercut their prices by 40 pct to 50 pct to stay competitive in price.
John further said that a worsening economic environment could prompt a trend to slower “deferred” delivery services.
The Kahala partnership is also moving beyond postage, with Australia Post, China Post and the US Postal Service preparing to launch a group-owned money transfer service to compete against Western Union, Brisbane Times added.
Read MoreAn international alliance of eight national postal administrations is marking the two-year anniversary of its date-certain, guaranteed international Express Mail Service (EMS) by expanding to new member countries and paving the way to launch new products.
Kahala Posts Group (KPG), a collaborative network of the postal administrations of Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, accounts for almost half of the world’s total EMS traffic. With delivery to more than 261 million addresses, 8 billion post code combinations and service available at more than 142,000 retail locations, KPG provides a powerful network and consistently high delivery standards.
At its annual meeting today in San Francisco, KPG reported growth of more than 40 percent in volume for its date-certain, guaranteed EMS service since inception of the alliance.
KPG members integrated their operational and information technology networks to provide date-certain international EMS beginning in July 2005. Backed by a guarantee and reliability on par with private couriers, the product has helped national posts regain share in the international package marketplace, and has proven especially popular with small to medium business sector customers.
Read More
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.
