The week that was: 3 September 2010
The birth of bpost, TNT on the rise, and USPS opens union talks…
Welcome one and all. The summer might be drawing to a close, however Post&Parcel endears to bring you continued rays of sunshine, via our delicious weekly news round-ups.
This week saw the start of a huge media campaign in Belgium, alerting the country’s public that La Poste-De Post has rebranded as bpost. The campaign is currently running via radio, television, newspapers and the Internet. In the meantime, the new logo will be gradually affixed to trucks, motorcycles and post offices. Approximately 4.5m households have already received a letter from CEO Johnny Thijs explaining the reasons for this change of name. Through this media campaign, bpost says the rebranding reflects a process of modernisation, with the company now prepared for full liberalisation of the postal market in 2011. Thijs said that the new identity will be introduced very gradually to reduce costs to a minimum. The new name and new logo will be affixed as much as possible on cars, motorbikes, buildings and the red box at the time of replacement or renovation. Existing stocks (letterhead, brochures, uniform, etc.) will be used until exhausted. “Customers and employees understand that we have become a new company and a new name is logical. We will now make sure to gradually introduce the name and logo. It is a process that lasts several months and even years, but we will severely limit the additional costs,” said Thijs.
Across the border into The Netherlands now, where TNT announced a pricing increase for domestic and European mail. The new pricing will come into force on 1 January 2011. The basic domestic-mail rate for the Netherlands will increase by two euro-cents to €0.46; for mail to other European destinations the basic rate will increase to €0.79, also a two cent rise. The rate for mail being sent outside Europe will remain at its present €0.95. TNT said that the price increase falls within the legal limits for price developments, and it is increasing its rates in consideration of volume and cost progression. The last rate increase was in January 2007, with TNT Post making clear at the time that there would be no further increase until 2010. With the change that is now being announced, TNT Post continues to implement its moderate postage rate policy, the company said. On the international stage, TNT this week said it will make a further €4.5m investment in its successful Asia Road Network (ARN). This brings the total investment to date in the fully integrated ARN, which currently serves six countries and 127 cities in Southeast Asia and southern China, to more than €12m.
In North America, USPS has begun contract negotiations with the largest of its four unions, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The APWU represents employees who work as clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and some administrative positions. The current contract expires on November 20. “We have worked successfully with our unions in the past to help transform the Postal Service and we hope to maintain this momentum during these negotiations,” said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president. “Our goal is to negotiate a contract that’s fair to our customers, fair to our employees and meets our financial and operational needs.”
And finally…
Compared to a number of leading postal operators, Royal Mail has always seemingly been towards the lower end of the innovation ladder – until now. The company has today announced the development of the world’s first ‘Intelligent Stamp’ – what do you think about that?!
