Dutch post office may soon deliver UK mail

Postmen employed by the Dutch post office could soon be delivering mail on the streets of Britain, the company said on Wednesday.
Peter Bakker, chairman of TPG, said it would hire its own postmen rather than the Royal Mail's under plans by the postal regulator to allow companies to compete with Consignia. "Lots of people come to deliver stuff to your house. There is nothing special about having my mailman here. There are so many delivery organisations in this country. All we will do is add another one or combine it with our express network if practical," said Mr Bakker.
Until now it was assumed most of the competition to Consignia would be in the collection and sorting of mail, with rival companies paying for Royal Mail postal workers to make deliveries.
TPG's revelation came as the trade and industry secretary met Postcomm ahead of its crunch meeting on Thursday to finalise its proposals.
Patricia Hewitt is thought to have warned the independent regulator, set to make its final proposals at the end of the month, against moving too fast in exposing Consignia to competition.
TPG would be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the regulator's plans for a quick introduction of competition. It already has more than 15,000 employees in the UK and runs the TNT logistics and express mail group. The company was also involved in secret negotiations to work with Consignia on a number of issues.
But on Wednesday it joined in criticism of Postcomm for proposing competition in the UK ahead of Europe.
"I do not believe it is wise they advocate full liberalisation before other major countries in Europe," said Mr Bakker.
TPG, one of Europe's most efficient postal operators, said Consignia "will not be able to defend itself" if European rivals are able to muscle in on the UK market before Consignia can enter all European markets. Europe is unlikely to see full liberalisation of its postal markets before 2009.
"People like ourselves who come into the market will need time to build our positions and provide good service. At the same time Consignia should be allowed a fair opportunity to get its act together. If the market is opened too fast Consignia will have no incentive to try hard and the quality of service in the market will go down."
Mr Bakker said eight months of talks with Consignia that ended in March after the British government pulled out did not discuss a possible merger.
"I never found out why things broke down . . . That is fine. I still believe there was a strategic logic in talking to each other . . . but there were no merger negotiations. I'm not saying a merger could not have been the outcome of the discussions but it never got to that stage."

Daily Telegraph
TELEGRAPH (UK) 16th May 2002
TPG ABANDONS CONSIGNIA

Our strategy does not revolve around finding a way to work with Consignia

PETER BAKKER, chairman of Dutch postal group TPG, said yesterday that the company was unlikely to reopen talks with Consignia over the possibility of a merger between the two mail businesses. Mr Bakker added that the listed Dutch company, which owns TNT, would instead expand into Britain's mail market on its own terms, whatever the decision of the postal regulator. "The end result of our talks with Consignia was that we were not able to reach common ground on working together," he said yesterday. "We are now preparing ourselves to be competitive. Our strategy to be the first European postal operator does not revolve around a need to find a way to do something with Consignia." It emerged last month that the two organisations had held talks on a possible joint venture of their mail businesses. Mr Bakker said that the two companies had failed to agree because Consignia was unable to meet the conditions set down by TPG. "The shareholder base of the two companies is completely different," Mr Bakker said. "We have to live by the normal rules set by the stock exchange, so we had to set certain conditions about the regulatory framework and we needed to understand the relationship between the management and employees. We could not reach common ground." Mr Bakker also criticised the British postal regulator, Postcomm, for wanting to liberalise the entire UK mail market by 2006. "We believe the proposals are too aggressive," he said. "It is very unwise for any country, let alone a country with an incumbent that isn't yet able to compete, to open up its network before everyone else." He said TPG is "going full throttle" to prepare itself for competition, and will compete in the unaddressed direct mail market no matter what decision Postcomm makes when it publishes its final plan for liberalisation in the next two weeks.