The week that was: 19 February 2010
Regulator speaks out, PostFinance’s record year, and developments in Pakistan… Do you have a thirst for knowledge? Then you’re in luck – it’s the week that was, live from Post&Parcel HQ.
Royal Mail could be in trouble after UK regulator Postcomm issued a preliminary ‘minded to’ finding on its investigation into the alleged manipulation of quality of service performance monitoring by some staff. Royal Mail locations under scrutiny include the west of Scotland, Glasgow, and also Belfast. In a statement on Thursday, the regulator said it ‘minded to’ conclude that Royal Mail has failed and is failing to comply since July 2006 with two parts of a condition of its licence relating to quality of service. Postcomm chief executive Tim Brown said: “This ‘minded to’ stage is an important part of our investigation process because it gives Royal Mail, or any other party, the chance to consider and respond to the detail of our findings before we make a final decision.”
It has been a bit of a topsy-turvy start to 2010 for Swiss Post, with Claude Begle leaving his post as chairman. So it comes as a relief to Post&Parcel that things are on the up in Switzerland, after PostFinance made a record profit of CHF 447.8m in 2009. The 126,000 new customers who joined PostFinance during the last year represent another new record. Last year, the company created 153 new full-time jobs and intends to grow further in 2010. The company said that compared with the previous year, PostFinance almost doubled its profit in 2009 (+89.8). This was driven mainly by higher income from interest business and consistent cost discipline. Although the interest level remains at a modest level, PostFinance increased its interest result to CHF 905m in 2009. The main factors were higher customer deposits, lower interest expenses and the long-term, cautious investment strategy, thanks to which write-downs declined to CHF 54m.
Over to Asia now, and it has been reported in the local media that Pakistan Post will not be privatised but could become a corporation as the government looks to improve efficiency. The minister for postal services, Israrullah Zehri, said: “We cannot put the future of 47,000 employees of the postal service at stake by privatising it.” He said the Ministry would go for opting ways and means to improve the existing services besides adding new utilities. He said around 700 new post offices have been built to provide rural customers with modern postal services.
FedEx has announced this week that its Trade Network arm will open six new freight forwarding offices across its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and its Latin America region as part of a global expansion plan. The company has opened 20 international freight forwarding locations in the past nine months, bringing the company’s total to 22 new international locations since 2008. In EMEA, the new operations are located in Brussels, Belgium; Manchester and London, United Kingdom; and Mumbai and Chennai, India. In Latin America, the company opened a location in Mexico City, Mexico.
And finally…
Applications for the World Mail Awards can now be submitted at www.mailawards.com. The closing date is 26 March. The winners will be announced at the World Mail Awards’ ceremony in Copenhagen on 15 June, on the eve of Triangle Management Services’ World Mail and Express Europe Conference. So get cracking!
