Author: Archive

UK Post office closure is branded shortsighted

Posted by | Dec 22, 2006 | |

The West Surrey branch of the Federation of Small Business (FSB) has added its voice to the mounting furore over the decision to close 2,500 post offices across the UK.

The organisation which looks after the interests of small businesses has cited that 82% of small firms believe the closure of their local post office would adversely affect them.

While accepting that many sub-post offices are loss making, it has argued that the social need must be put before profit.

A total of 88% of small firms send mail every day, 69% send invoices through the post and 94% of small firms use Royal Mail exclusively.

And with small businesses employing twelve million people the potential for this decision to have a negative knock-on effect on the economy is considerable claims the group.

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling made the announcement to the House of Commons last week that some post offices will close as early as summer 2007 as part of the cost-cutting move, branded short-sighted by the federation.

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DHL expands Time Definite Delivery for Import Express to Nagoya area

Posted by | Dec 21, 2006 | |

DHL announced today the launch of Import MidDay Express – a service to guarantee delivery of imported documents and parcels by noon – in the Nagoya area. The service provided by DHL Express Japan will be available from 4 January 2007.

In the Nagoya area, year-on-year sales in the January-November 2006 period increased 30% for the Import Express service and 110% for Time Definite Delivery (TDD) services. To meet the rising demand for the two services in Nagoya, Import MidDay Express, which began service in Tokyo and Osaka on 1 June 2006, will be launched in Nagoya with an aim to further expand and diversify the services offered in this region. Demand for Import MidDay Express in the Nagoya area is expected from the high-tech, textile and apparel, and automobile industries.

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USPS proposal will simplify International Mail products

Posted by | Dec 21, 2006 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is proposing changes to make its International Mail products easier to use. The changes will introduce the most familiar and trusted USPS domestic product names — First-Class Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail — into the International product portfolio, making it easier for customers to mail cards, letters and packages worldwide.

The proposal will reorganize eight International Mail products now offered at postal outlets and online at usps.com into four simplified groupings: Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Mail International.

Online tools already are available to make mailing easier, combining customs forms and address labels into one document for many International Mail products. Soon, online shipping will be easier on the budget too, with discounts for postage purchased using Click-N-Ship at usps.com or through authorized postage vendors. Popular flat-rate shipping options also will be added.

Customers will be able to use many of the same recognizable packaging supplies — available free from USPS — for both domestic and International Mail shipments. Online customers also can request Free Package Pickup for certain International parcel services at their home or office for even more convenience.

Along with the product name changes, USPS is proposing to restructure International Mail prices for the first time in more than five years, resulting in an average increase of 13 percent.

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Environmental concerns lead Deutsche Post to RFID

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Deutsche Post World Net has launched a project to develop passive RFID tags incorporating a small, rewriteable display for use on mail containers. The D-RFID tags, as they’re called, will be used as part of an RFID application under development to track DPWN’s 6 million yellow shipping containers. The company utilizes the crates to hold the 70 million letters that pass through its 84 distribution centers each day.

DPWN currently throws away about 500 million of these paper labels per year. Printing 500 million labels annually is still the cheapest way for it to label the reusable plastic bins, however, so the company initiated a project called Pariflex (Passive RFID with Flexible Bistable Display) to eliminate this environmental waste. D-RFID tags are high-frequency passive RFID tags with displays powered by the tags, which draw their energy from the magnetic field of the RFID interrogator.

The Pariflex project got rolling in October 2005 and will run until September 2008, funded with euro2.5 million (USD3.3 million) from the German Federal Ministry and Research (BMBF). The companies involved will also contribute to the budget if government funds don’t cover expenses, said Gerhard Stönner, DPWN’s head of engineering in the mail division and a manager of the D-RFID project. So far, the partners have developed demonstration tags with the full functionality needed by the application, though these tags contain batteries.

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Europe's largest UHF EPC (European Product Code) Project

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

In Europe, the Spanish Post Office “Correos” has implemented what they say is Europe’s largest UHF RFID system for any sector. Correos ships 25 million articles every day, utilizing 30,000 boxes and 11,500 vehicles.
The RFID implementation uses 332 UHF Gen2 readers and 1,992 reader antennas supplied by Symbol Technologies. These are installed in sorting centers in 16 cities across Spain. Some 5,000 passive RFID tags are employed, which are reused. A tag is inserted into an envelope and sent as any other piece of mail through the system. The readers throughout the postal system read the tags, such as when they first enter the sorting center; when they are taken to the automation room; and when they are dispatched. The RFID system monitors the movement of the letters and logs the performance of the postal system in real time. At any one time thousands of tags are in the mail supply chain, each building up a picture of the performance of the postal system. This allows Correos to quickly detect bottlenecks or delays and tackle these. As tags are received at different addresses they are sent back again to another address to monitor the mail flow. The central server which is in Madrid also monitors the reader network through the country to ensure that each reader is operating correctly. The passive tags cost less than 30 Euro cents each and weigh a few grams.

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FedEx reports solid revenue and earnings growth

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

FedEx Corporation today reported earnings of USD1.64 per diluted share for the second quarter ended November 30, compared to USD1.53 per diluted share a year ago. The quarter’s results included costs associated with the new pilot labor contract at FedEx Express. The net effect of this agreement reduced second quarter earnings by approximately USD0.25 per diluted share. Excluding these costs, second quarter earnings were USD1.89 per diluted share, an increase of 24% from last year’s second quarter.

FedEx Corp. reported the following consolidated results for the second quarter. Revenue of USD8.93 billion, up 10% from USD8.09 billion the previous year.
Operating income of USD839 million, up 6% from USD790 million a year ago.
Operating margin of 9.4%, down from last year’s 9.8%.

Net income of USD511 million, up 8% from USD471 million the previous year
Total combined average daily package volume at FedEx Express and FedEx Ground grew 7% year over year for the quarter, led by ground and international express package growth.

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TNT welcomes the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in the EU

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

TNT announced that it has invested significantly in Bulgaria and Romania in order to capitalize on the expansion of the EU in January 2007. Investments in new line haul connections and depots will enable TNT Express to benefit from the increase of trade between the existing EU countries and Bulgaria and Romania.

In Bulgaria, TNT Express has developed new domestic line hauls which allow offering same day export from the South-Eastern Bulgaria region as well as Central, Northern and North-Western Bulgaria. For 2007, it is planned to further develop the North Bulgaria line haul to enable same day export for the North-Eastern Bulgaria region as well.

In Romania, TNT Express is well equipped to gain from the increased trade between the EU countries. TNT has developed the largest network in Romania with three international depots in Otopeni, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. Investments have focused on improvement of the infrastructure and the line haul network. Transit times have been reduced from two days to one, for documents and parcels, import and exports, between Romania and all EU countries.

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Competition for postal dollar delivered

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Freightways says its purchase of the franchisor rights of small mail service Pete’s Post will expand the business from the main cities and ramp up competition against NZ Post.
Freightways’ postal service, DX Mail, said it bought the mail delivery businesses of Pete’s Post in Taranaki, Manawatu, Wanganui, Hawkes Bay and Bay of Plenty for NZD1.3 million.
Purchase of mail service expands alternative to NZ Post from cities into the regions
Freightways managing director Dean Bracewell said the purchase would allow the company’s DX Mail service to expand from the cities to the regional centres of New Zealand and increase competitive pressure on NZ Post.
Pete’s Post business complemented DX Mail which operated in all major towns and cities in New Zealand and had street-delivery services in Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington, said Bracewell.
Freightways has forecast that the Pete’s Post arm would deliver operating earnings of about NZD500,000 over the next 12 months.

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