Author: Archive

Can new players make inroads on Royal Mail's old stamping ground?

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

As full competition begins in the mail market, the operators licensed by Postcomm will be able to offer favourable deals to marketers. Yet Royal Mail’s monopoly hardly seems under threat, says Sarah Chambers

A recent survey commissioned by Postcomm revealed that eight out of ten business mailers expect a competitive mail market to reduce prices, offer better choices and improve the quality of Royal Mail’s service. They also believe the postal market should be opened to full competition as soon as possible.

From this month, businesses throughout the UK will be able to see whether these predictions come true. After 350 years, Royal Mail’s monopoly of the letters market will come to an end and mailers will be able to use other companies licensed by postal industry regulator Postcomm to carry their mail.

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Business Post appoints new MD

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

Business Post has appointed a new managing director to lead its charge into the new deregulated mail delivery market. The Birmingham company, which has its national HQ near Bromford Lane, has appointed Steve Patrick as head of its UK Mail arm. The 49-year-old had been sales and marketing director for the division since its introduction as the first alternative to Royal Mail in 2004.
He replaces Guy Buswell, who has become chief executive.

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New UK Post Office boss in battle to save pounds 150m subsidy for rural branches

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

The new boss of Britain’s post office network expects a showdown within months of his arrival with ministers over the future of rural branches, many of which would shut if the government makes cuts to its pounds 150m subsidy. Royal Mail announced yesterday that Alan Cook, the current boss of National Savings & Investments, will take up his new position as managing director of its Post Office Ltd subsidiary next month. He is expected to repeat the turnaround at the Post Office, which has suffered a bruising couple of years. Deep cuts to the urban post office network sparked heated exchanges in parliament and protests from pensioner groups angry at the loss of local amenities. Moves to offset the loss of lucrative benefit payments with a wide range of financial services have also proved difficult in the face of stiff competition.

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Lithuanian Post fined EUR 23,188 for abuse of market dominance

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

Lithuania’s competition watchdog has imposed on Lietuvos Pastas (Lithuanian Post), the state-run postal service operator, a fine of 80,000 litas (EUR 23,188) for abuse of its dominance on the domestic market. Having considered the conclusions drawn by the investigation into the compliance of Lietuvos Pastas with the requirements of competition legislation, the Competition Council has ruled that the company has breached the article on the abuse of market dominance. The council has set out its opinion that Lietuvos Pastas has abused its dominance on the market of reserved postal services and sought to drive its competitors out from the bill printing, folding and enveloping market.

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Interparcel takes off on the web

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

Interparcel, an online firm offering discounted parcels services with most of the leading international carriers, says it has taken 50,000 orders in its first eight months of trading.

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Drop-box solutions are gaining ground

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

An unattended delivery system for which Business Post now has the UK licence, called eBox, is on trial with several hundred customers.
Three sizes of eBox are available, taking deliveries or outbound shipments of up to 20kg. Business Post claims this makes the system suitable for the B2B sector as well as its HomeServe customers, such as service engineers and party planners. The company hopes by this means to reduce the problem of failed deliveries.

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Parcel mergers could relieve price pressure

Posted by | Jan 5, 2006 | |

Recent acquisitions in the express parcel industry will help alleviate downward pressure on rates, according to Petar Cvetkovic, CEO of Target Express.
The wave of consolidation that happened a few months ago was for “negative reasons” as franchise operations such as Hellmann and NCN went bankrupt, Cvetkovic said. “They were offering low headline rates that were not sustainable.”

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Romania: Postal services quality up after market liberalization

Posted by | Jan 4, 2006 | |

The number of postal services providers increased from 5 in 1999 (the year the market liberalized) to 172 in December 2005, according to a survey on the postal services market made by the National Regulation Authority for Communications (ANRC), Bursa news agency reports. According to the survey, the enforcement of an efficient regulation framework led to the improvement of services and cut in tariffs, thus stimulating productivity and enhancing the economic growth. Of the 172 companies that operate on this market, 166 are authorized to provide value added services.

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