Author: Archive

UK direct mail lags behind other media growing 2.1%

Posted by | Dec 15, 2004 | |

Growth in spending in direct mail lagged behind the marketing industry average over the past quarter, up by 2.1% in current prices, compared with 4.6% across the board. According to the Advertising Association, direct mail, which only includes mailouts and not doordrops nor other forms of direct marketing, rose to GBP569m. But compared with other media, it was lagging in terms of growth.
Last month, the AA reported that spending on direct mail in the UK could rise by as much as 54% over the next 10 years. Between now and 2014, the medium of direct mail is set to rise between 46% and 54%. This put it well ahead of the marketing industry as a whole.

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UK Royal Mail asks for a ban on firearms-by-post

Posted by | Dec 14, 2004 | |

Royal Mail yesterday asked Postcomm to prohibit the carriage of firearms in its mail service. If agreed, the ban would apply to the delivery of sporting, deactivated and replica firearms, munitions and ordnance by Royal Mail’s letter post, special and recorded delivery and standard parcels services. Parcelforce would continue to carry firearms, as would other parcel companies. Postcomm began consulting on the request today. While it is lawful to send these items by the post at present, Royal Mail claims that despite their legal status, the sending of them by the standard post causes disruption to their services. Banning firearms would reduce this. At present, every time a firearm is found, Royal Mail’s operations are halted as police have to be alerted. Prohibiting firearms should mean less disruption. Any firearms found would be handed over to the police who would return lawful firearms to their owners.

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Gov’t to sell all shares in postal savings, ‘kampo’ firms

Posted by | Dec 14, 2004 | |

The government plans to sell by 2017 all the shares in planned companies that will inherit state-run postal savings and “kampo” life insurance services, the Yomiuri Shimbun said Tuesday.

The step is intended to make the two companies completely independent of a government-affiliated holding company and funnel their funds into private markets, the newspaper said.

The government will include the step in a draft bill to be mapped out early next year to privatize the state-backed Japan Post, which is in charge of mail delivery, postal savings and life insurance services, the daily said.

The draft bill will not require the planned postal savings and life insurance companies to use post offices to provide their services, it said.

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Plans by An Post to cut staff rejected by union

Posted by | Dec 14, 2004 | |

Plans by An Post to cut staff numbers and overtime costs drastically in its collection and delivery service have been overwhelmingly rejected by staff. Of 4,315 members balloted by the Communications Workers’ Union, only 195 supported management’s reform proposals. They will now be referred to the Labour Court for adjudication next year, further delaying full implementation of a company recovery plan. The ballot result, announced yesterday by the CWU, does not carry any threat of industrial action. CWU members had balloted separately in favour of a strike. However, following a 24-hour stoppage last week, the union said there will be no further disruption before Christmas. The latest ballot concerned the outcome of seven months of negotiations between the company and the union at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).

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Deutsche Post rejects proposal to relax letter mail licence

Posted by | Dec 14, 2004 | |

Calls by two federal states for the letter mail market to be opened up early put nationwide provision of postal services at risk, says Deutsche Post. Deutsche Post has soundly rejected the calls made by the German federal states of Hesse and Lower Saxony for the exclusive letter mail license to be relaxed early, saying that the frequently repeated claims that the current legal situation is hindering competition and is putting customers at a disadvantage do not reflect reality and are politically motivated.

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Deutsche Post rejects Commerzbank’s advances to Postbank unit

Posted by | Dec 13, 2004 | |

Deutsche Post, the semi-privatised German postal authority, rejected Monday the advances made by Germany’s fourth-biggest bank Commerzbank to Deutsche Post’s banking unit Postbank.

“There aren’t and have not been any talks with Commerzbank,” a Deutsche Post spokeswoman said, adding that no changes were planned in Postbank’s capital structure.

In a newspaper interview at the weekend, Commerzbank chairman Klaus-Peter Mueller had expressed an interest in a possible merger with Postbank.

“If we were to merge with Postbank, we’d become the biggest bank for private customers in Europe,” Mueller told the Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

Postbank, which has also been coveted by Germany’s biggest bank Deutsche Bank in the past, has a 11-percent share of the high-street banking market in Germany.

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UK Postcomm consults on a long term licence for Mail Plus

Posted by | Dec 12, 2004 | |

Postcomm on 2 December 2004 began a consultation on the proposed issue of a long term licence to Mail Plus Ltd to provide bulk mail and consolidation services. Today’s document says that Postcomm is minded, subject to consultation, to grant a licence to Mail Plus. It suggests that the proposed services will have no appreciable adverse effect on the provision of a universal service throughout the UK and will further the interests of users by promoting competition between postal operators. If issued, the licence will contain a requirement for Mail Plus to maintain separate accounts for its UK licensed business to show that it is not being unfairly cross-subsidised by its parent company, La Poste.

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