Author: Archive

USPS and NRLCA reach agreement

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

The U.S. Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association reached a tentative four-year contract agreement on Dec. 8.

Upon ratification by union members, the agreement will run through Nov. 20, 2010, and affect approximately 66,000 career employees and 52,000 non-career employees who deliver mail to residences and businesses on rural delivery routes.

The USPS and NRLCA formally opened national contract negotiations on Aug. 25. This year was the first time new contracts were negotiated separately at the same time with all four of the postal service’s largest unions.

Earlier this week, the USPS and the American Postal Workers Union also agreed to a tentative four-year contract. Negotiations continue with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. Negotiations with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) were not successful and the two parties will now enter the dispute resolution process, which may include binding interest arbitration.

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ATMs may open a/c in post offices

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

In a move that is sure to bring smiles to millions of postal savings account holders, the government is proposing to set up ATMs in all major post offices in the country in a phased manner.

This means consumers will no longer have to depend on the manual process of withdrawal during office hours, but can carry out transactions through use of debit cards on a 24×7 basis. The ATM facility will also come as a big relief for customers who receive money from loved ones abroad through Western Union Money transfer.

Postal Department’s services currently span five areas such as mail (letters and parcels), express (SpeedPost), financial services, postal life insurance and philately. The Department has identified Speedpost and financial services as its engines of growth.

The DoP is currently working on a plan to hive off its financial department arm into a stand-alone bank. This is because, the DoP currently passes off its entire collections to the finance ministry in return for a fixed commission, but a stand-alone banking arm will enable the it to make independent investment decisions.

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Less than 10% of direct mail is relevant to recipients

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

Fewer than one in 10 pieces of direct mail are relevant to the people who receive them, new research has found.

The survey reveals that 47% of direct mail that is sent to post boxes is addressed incorrectly.

Data firm Informatica has undertaken the study to highlight the attention of inaccurate data being used in UK direct marketing campaigns.

It blames poorly-used data for contributing to the 78,000 tonnes of landfill waste each year caused by unaddressed junk mail.

Other findings were that 40% of respondents received more than five pieces of direct mail a week and a quarter of people said that less than 1% of all the direct marketing they received was relevant to them.

Tom Golden, vice-president of marketing for Informatica’s data quality division, said: “Dirty data is a huge problem for the UK’s direct marketing industry and data quality has to be paramount.

“Companies, at the very least, need to get name and address details correct or potentially alienate consumers, flying in the face of their objective to attract people to their brand.

“What’s worse for companies is that inaccurate data produces irrelevant mail that winds up straight in the bin, and equates to an immediate loss of a much-needed marketing budget.”

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UPS offers voluntary separation to group of employees

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

UPS today offered a special voluntary separation opportunity to approximately 650 employees as part of the company’s ongoing effort to eliminate redundant positions.
The voluntary separation opportunity is in addition to the job reductions at UPS Supply Chain Solutions announced in October.
The impact of the voluntary separation opportunity on financial results will not be determined until after the personal election period is completed on Jan. 29, 2007. The company will discuss any significant financial impact from this action during its fourth quarter earnings call on Jan. 30, 2007.

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Royal Mail to close 7,000 post offices

Posted by | Dec 10, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told the government it wants to close more than 7,000 of its post offices – around half of the 14,400 post offices across Britain.

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) is expected to make a statement on Thursday about the future of the Royal Mail network, which has already closed thousands of its post offices in the past seven years, reports The Times.

The announcement comes just days after the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, warned that the closure of many post offices was contributing to the poverty problem at the National Poverty Hearing last week.

The closure of so many post offices was, he said, “making life more difficult and painful”.

Current losses of around GBP2m each week, despite a GBP150m-a-year subsidy from the government, are a major factor in Royal Mail’s announcement.

Kate Hoey, Labour MP and chair of the all-party group for sub-post offices, said in The Times: “MPs of all political persuasions would be up in arms if cuts of this scale were to happen.”

In November campaigners delivered a petition to Downing Street urging ministers to keep as many post offices as possible open in Britain. Rural communities in particular will suffer if the desired closures go ahead.

A DTI spokesman said: “We recognise the wider social role of the post office in communities.

“But also there is widespread recognition that the current size of the network is unsustainable.”

The size of the network will depend on the amount of money that Royal Mail receives from the Treasury, a spokesman for the Royal Mail said.

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Half Britain's Post Offices `will have to close'

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told ministers that half of Britain’s 14,500 post offices should be shut to stem mounting losses, it was reported today.
But the Government is likely to propose that a fifth of rural and urban branches- between 2,500 and 3,000 – be closed down, according to the Times.
Controversy over plans for reforming the network has been growing in the run-up to an announcement by the Department for Trade and Industry expected next Thursday.
Royal Mail has previously claimed that around 4,000 post offices nationwide would be the optimum “commercial” level, although chief executive Adam Crozier has accepted its social benefits must also be taken into account.
Currently the network comprises around 8,000 rural and 6,500 urban branches, and is said to make an operating loss of GBP2 million every week – subsidised with GBP150 million annually from the Treasury.

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House and Senate pass historic postal reform legislation

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

Both the House and Senate passed historic postal reform legislation in the final hours of the 109th Congress after key negotiators — Sens. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Tom Carper, D-DE, and Reps. Tom Davis, R-VA, and Henry A. Waxman, D-CA — brokered an agreement that will modernize the United States Postal Service and make it viable for the 21st century. The legislation, the first major overhaul of the USPS since 1970, will help stabilize mail volume and stamp prices.

“The U.S. Postal Service is the lynchpin of a USD900 billion mailing industry, providing nine million jobs nationwide in fields as diverse as direct mailing, printing, catalog companies, paper manufacturing, and financial services. But under its current business model, which has not been updated in decades, the financial future of the Postal Service is not viable,” said Senator Collins.

The legislation would force the Postal Service to concentrate on what it does best – processing and delivering mail to all Americans. The bill, entitled the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, would dramatically rethink the way the Postal Service prices its products by giving it the same ability any other business has to change prices whenever it needs to do so. But to protect businesses and mailers from sudden and dramatic price hikes, the legislation would ensure that price increases be kept below an inflation- based ceiling.

In addition, the bill would give the Postal Service the freedom to introduce new, innovative products or tailor existing products to meet customers’ needs, which should help attract new business and increase revenues.

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FSB calls for Royal Mail shake-up

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Federation of Small Businesses is calling for a shake-up of the service offered by Royal Mail to its members after research showed 82 per cent of small businesses felt post offices were vital to their operations.

The survey of 3,000 small businesses found that Royal Mail’s introduction of pricing in proportion, in which charges are based on the size as well as weight of items, had increased postage costs for 43 per cent of companies. About 44 per cent said the new pricing regime had also raised the amount of time they spent preparing post.

Clive Davenport, FSB trade and industry chairman, said: “In terms of paying bills and invoicing customers the postal service remains the only small business choice despite the increasing use of new technology. This is partly explained because of recent closures of high-street bank branches.”

The FSB survey found that 48 per cent of respondents’ post arrives later since the Royal Mail merged first and second posts into a single daily delivery in 2004 and 82 per cent said closure of their local post office would have a significant impact on their business.

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