Postcomm, the industry regulator, is to be pressed by small businesses to curb Royal Mail’s prices because of concerns over the postal service. Royal Mail is opposed to price cuts but the regulator has said that it is profitable enough for customers to be able to share the benefits.
Read MoreUnions at An Post claim talks on a new partnership deal could be in jeopardy unless the company is forced to pay staff the full terms of Sustaining Progress.
With talks on a new national agreement expected to begin in the autumn, staff and pensioners at An Post are still awaiting pay rises due since November 2003.
Independent assessors appointed by the Labour Relations Commission recently recommended a 5 per cent increase, backdated to January 1st. This was accepted by the company and the increase is to be paid to all staff at the end of the month. Unions, however, rejected the assessors’ report and are continuing to seek payment of the full 8.5 per cent increase outstanding under the terms of Sustaining Progress. An Post, which announced a EUR7 million profit last year after posting substantial losses in the previous two years, pleaded inability to pay the increase.
People who bank online want traditional paper statements to help them manage their finances effectively, research for Royal Mail today revealed.
The research into banking attitudes of consumers, conducted on behalf of Royal Mail by the Henley Centre, revealed that 74 per cent of online bankers want to receive posted paper statements. It also showed that many study their statements in greater detail than non-online bankers.
Read MoreComparison of letter prices for 27 countries
P:LibraryPostalLetter prices in Europe Dpost report 2005.pdf
Deutsche Post AG will only provide basic postal services to private clients when markets open up and it loses its monopoly by end-2007, CEO Klaus Zumwinkel said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ‘We consider providing services to all parts of the country makes sense only for private customers. The big companies do not need that,’ he said. He indicated that the cost of servicing the needs of all private customers throughout the country would require higher prices. ‘But there is still the question of who will bear these costs of providing basic services for private customers…One possibility would be for example financing it through price regulation, which could also exist,’ he said.
Read MoreRoyal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier says the postal operator will scrap most of its business and consumer products as part of a major operational overhaul over the next 18 months. Only first and second class services will escape the axe. Crozier has announced that the postal provider will cease distribution of any products currently available by January 2007. Speaking at last week’s Postcomm forum, Making the Postal Market Work for Customers, Crozier stated: “We are currently in the process of reinventing all our products, particularly on the business side. “Most of them were developed around 15 years ago, and were based around what we do, rather than what our customers wanted.” Crozier also said he has seen first drafts of potential new products, which will be offered to customers for consultation before Royal Mail approaches Postcomm for approval later this year.
Read MorePresident Kirchner administration has decided to extend for another year its hold in the mail service Correo Argentino, before to re-privatize it. The government ended the concession contract with Macri group and took over the management of Correo in November 2003, and is improving the company performance while seeking several alternatives that could be floating shares in the stock market, issue a tender to win an international partner, or associate with an international mail service, in this case the favorite would be the German mail service.
Read MoreDeutsche Post AG should receive subsidies from the Regulatory Agency for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP), to help it maintain a mail delivery service in rural areas after 2007, the Financial Times Deutschland cited Deutsche Post chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel as saying. Deutsche Post is legally required to operate at least 12,000 post offices in Germany, and provide all residents with mail delivery services, but after 2007 it will not be required to maintain the network. ‘I can’t imagine that Deutsche Post would abandon complete coverage,’ Zumwinkel told the newspaper.
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