Yamato Transport chief blasts Japan Post’s tie-up with Lawson
Yamato Transport Co. President Atsushi Yamazaki lashed out at Japan Post on Friday for joining hands with Lawson Inc. to offer a parcel delivery service, saying private-sector rivals will be at a disadvantage competing with the public entity.
“It is not fair for us to compete on the same playing field as the public corporation, which receives favorable treatment of various kinds in such areas as taxation,” Yamazaki said in an interview with Kyodo News.
Yamato, Japan’s largest door-to-door parcel delivery service company, decided to end its business alliance with Lawson when its current contract expires after the convenience store operator said last week it will begin handling Japan Post parcels at its 7,850 outlets nationwide in mid-November.
Lawson, which currently deals with only Yamato packages, had offered to continue handling Yamato packages along with Japan Post’s, but Yamato rejected the idea. “There cannot be real price competition between us and the public body, whose burden of expenses is completely different,” he said.
Yamazaki said the company will also spurn other convenience stores if they offer to handle both Yamato and Japan Post packages.
The courier published comments in newspapers Thursday and Friday to accuse Japan Post of unfairness. Yamato received several hundred e-mails and fax messages, of which 90 percent were in support of the company, according to Yamazaki.
In a bid to cope with enhanced Japan Post parcel delivery services, Yamato plans to double the number of its operation centers to 5,000, he said.
“We will increase the frequency of pickup and delivery and offer more attentive services and products. We will rack our brains to beat any rival even if a price gap exists,” he said.
Yamazaki said he welcomes the planned privatization of Japan Post only if it provides “a level playing field” for private-sector rivals.
He criticized the public corporation for moving into markets developed by private companies in order to safeguard its employees and enlarge itself further.
Yamazaki said he is not studying the possibility of resorting to legal action over Japan Post’s tie-up with Lawson for now, but said the company may consider such a move if the public corporation forms alliances with other convenience stores.
Meanwhile, Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta criticized Yamato on Friday for terminating its partnership with Lawson from November, insisting the decision deprives customers of choices.
He reiterated its partnership with Lawson will not hamper private-sector competition because Japan Post accounts for only 6 percent of the entire parcel delivery service market. “Private companies claim we are damaging their businesses, but in fact they just want to avoid competition,” he said.
Japan Post, established in April 2003 as a government-backed corporation to take over the mail delivery, postal savings and life insurance business from the Postal Services Agency, is scheduled to be privatized in stages starting in 2007.
