Spotlight on Spring activities in Belgium and US
As Spring, the international jv between TPG, Consignia (Roayl Mail) and Singapore Post, seeks an annual growth rate of between 8% to 10% it is targeting large companies such a banks, insurance, mail-order and publishing companies which individually post significant amounts of largely identical international mail.
In Belgium Spring collects the mail before sorting into three categories – having negotiated special tariff deals, reserved are mail is passed onto De Post/La Poste; non-monopoly domestic post is handled by TPGs subsidiary BD (who specialize in non-addressed mail and newspapers and is positioning itself to take full advantage of increasing liberalisation); and international mail which is entered into the Spring routing system.
This system calculates the optimum route based on transport, handling and exchange rate costs offering the client a choice of routing options dependent upon whether speed or cost is the primary factor. Routing performance is monitored by sending an annual total of halft a million track and trace letters.
Spring is looking to sign agreements to handle international mail and will soon sign an agreement with the Russian postal operator – splitting the difference between the cost price and the spring tariffs between both companies.
Spring is endeavouring to simplify large volume North American mailing. American and Canadian international mailers now have three service options: Gold for time-sensitive material; Silver balancing cost and speed; and Bronze for a minimised cost through a reliable delivery network but not covering the full range of destinations. These options are augmented by added-value services such as providing a local look, polywrapping, and discount offers to specific countries.
