Author: Archive

Belgian Post Office ‘damages half its parcels’

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

The Belgian post office damaged almost half the parcels it transported as part of a European wide test, it emerged on Tuesday. The European Consumer Centre (ECC), which is subsidised by the European Commission, used national post offices across the EU to send 260 parcels to 13 destinations, La Derniere Heure reported. All of the parcels weighed 2.5 kilograms and were sent on 14 September. On average 13.6 percent of the packages arrived damaged at their destinations. But those handled by the Belgian Post office had a much worse time. A total of 46 percent – almost half – of the 24 parcels the post office had to process were damaged when they reached their destinations, the ECC found.

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Privatization of Deutsche Post shares oversubscribed

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

A privatization sale of shares in German mail carrier Deutsche Post was oversubscribed, and institutional investors scooped up all available stock at the market price, the federal government bank KfW said Tuesday in Frankfurt.
The sale reduces the overall government stake in Post, which owns the DHL parcels business and courier operations in several countries, to 56.9 per cent, with the rest traded on the German stock exchanges. Individual investors were excluded from the fast-track sale. Lead banks Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have an option till the end of December to purchase additional stock at the same price to a total value of 150 million euros.

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Sankyu and Japan Post to start Hong Kong – Japan parcel service

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

Sankyu Inc. and Japan Post plan on Thursday to start jointly operating a small-lot parcel delivery service from Hong Kong to Japan using marine freighters, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Monday. The new service will be the first of the joint international logistic services by the two firms. Sankyu will pick up parcels in Hong Kong, ship them, then complete their customs clearance in Japan. Japan Post will deliver them using its Yu Pack parcel delivery service network. The two partners expect it to be used for shipping machine and electronic parts as well as mail-order purchases.

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KfW sells 63.3 mln Deutsche Post shares at 15.79 eur/shr

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

The state development bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) said yesterday evening that it has sold 63.3 mln Deutsche Post World Net AG shares, or a 5.7 pct stake, for 15.79 eur/shr in a placement among institutional investors, managed by Deutsche Bank and and Morgan Stanley. KfW’s stake in Deutsche Post now falls to 36.9 pct, while the mail and logistic group’s freefloat rises to 43.10 pct from 37.4 pct previously. The greenshoe, or overallotment, option of 15 pct, will be exercised, the KfW said. The German government has a 20 pct holding in Deutsche Post.

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UK sub-postmasters ask OFT to rule Post Office contracts `illegal’

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

The UK Post Office was taken to the Office of Fair Trading yesterday in an attempt to have the contracts it imposes upon thousands of sub-postmasters ruled anti-competitive and illegal. The Association of Convenience Stores, which represents 10,000 sub-post offices, two-thirds of the network, claimed its members were losing millions of pounds because of the restrictions imposed on them. Its complaint to the OFT calls for the Post Office, which is part of Royal Mail, to be forced to withdraw the contracts so that corner shops that provide postal services have greater freedom to offer different products and services.

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Just three UK post offices make a profit

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

Only three Crown Post Offices in the whole of the UK are making a profit, highlighting the scale of losses at the network of high street branches, it was revealed today. But despite losses totalling GBP71 million in the last financial year, Royal Mail bosses insisted they only had plans to close around 30 Crown offices in the next five years. Chairman Allan Leighton said five would close next year and six the year after, up to a maximum of 30 over five years out of the current total of 555. The losses equated to GBP127,000 for each Crown office, the Royal Mail boss told MPs on the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee.

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Austria Post AG to close 357 offices nationwide next spring

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

Austria Post will close 357 post offices around the country next spring in a cost-cutting move, officials said Tuesday. Ninety-two of the branches to be closed are in the province of Lower Austria, which encompasses the area around Vienna, the postal service said. Small, independent grocery stores will sell stamps and provide other postal services for customers in areas where branches will be shuttered, it said. The closures are part of a downsizing that began in 1998, when Austria’s post office began reacting to the increased use of courier services such as DHL and Federal Express.

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La Poste to create new level within heirarchy

Posted by | Nov 29, 2004 | |

La Poste, the French postal services operator, is planning to create a new level within the heirarchy of its public network. At present the groups network includes five levels: the head office, eight lower authorities, 102 departmental offices, 270 local groups and around 12,000 individual establishments. As of 1 January 2005 a regional level could be added between the eight authorities below the head office and the 102 departmental offices. This would lead to the creation of 24 or 25 regional offices.

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