Not the last post: Business to reap benefits of EU liberalisation

John Tuohy, chief executive of Nightline, writes for Post&Parcel on liberalisation. The start of every New Year is associated with a general desire to be leaner, save a little more and be even fitter for purpose than we were in the preceding 12 months.

From January 1, the postal industry has an opportunity not only to apply but make good on the sort of intentions which many individuals often let slip from dietary regimes before February is even upon us.

From that date, eleven countries across the European Union will be obliged to open up their postal systems, allowing private companies to compete against state-run operators. Critics of the development claim that it will introduce flux where there has traditionally been stability, bringing with it job cuts.

However, it is clear that change is needed if the New Year is to amount to a fresh start for postal services. In the case of Ireland, having one of the lowest volumes of mail per head anywhere in Europe has already prompted redundancies by An Post, the state postal service.

Studies published only in the last fortnight by the country’s Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg, for short) illustrated that both businesses and consumers are yearning for change, increasingly turning to alternative providers because they feel existing provision doesn’t meet their needs.

Such impressions mirror the broader concerns of the Free and Fair Post Initiative, the body which represents users and private competitors of public postal systems across Europe. It has urged the EU’s member states to accelerate the moves needed to ensure effective liberalisation.

In response, the Commission has promised to take actions against those countries which it deemed as dragging their heels on implementing the directive opening up postal markets. In some quarters in Ireland, of course, there is a sense that liberalisation, although important, is not quite as crucial as the more pressing issues of teetering on the brink of national bankruptcy which has dominated newsprint and official process in the last few months.

Nightline is one of those organisations, though, which sees the potential of liberalisation in helping the business community through our current precarious national predicament. It is certainly not a case of being predatory, as some trades unions might suggest. Rather it amounts to being pragmatic and strategic in providing commerce with support when it is needed most – as well as generating extra revenue for the country’s coffers

We firmly subscribe to the views of Irish Government minister Noel Dempsey who said that, far from endangering An Post, liberalisation offered it the chance to increase profits, maintain sustainable jobs and give Ireland a service comparable to the very best elsewhere in Europe.

That’s why we have decided to create a new division, Eirpost, to offer a new simpler, cheaper postal service to thousands of Irish SMEs which are keen to secure for cheaper postal tariffs and collection charges.

Even though ours is a private business model, we don’t believe that what we’re proposing represents a challenge to An Post. As Ireland’s largest independent parcel carrier and the only business of its kind with a truly national network of depots, we already have a very efficient collection and delivery system.

Eirpost, though, will act as a mail consolidator, collecting post from subscribers, ‘bulking up’ and possibly sorting before inserting that mail into the existing An Post infrastructure under the so-called “downstream access” agreements which the European Commission and ComReg require.

It is a fact that a reduction in the number of small and medium-sized businesses not using post decreases the revenues generated for the Irish economy as well as impacting on those companies’ operations. By encouraging more SMEs in particular to return to using post, we can help realise the full potential of what Noel Dempsey and his colleagues saw liberalisation offering – not just to An Post but to private companies too.

The Irish parliament is not due to debate the bill enshrining liberalisation (the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill, to give its full title) until it returns from its seasonal recess in mid-January. I believe that it represents a really positive opportunity for Ireland to benefit from a postal service not dragging its heels but equipping them with wings to enable it to sprint into a position as one of Europe’s very best.