The Bank of Ireland has made a quiet start to its financial services joint venture with the UK Post Office by trialling its first product this month – a personal loan available at 200 branches in the British midlands.
Read MorePostal offices belonging to Romanian Post National Company (CNPR) will start offering Internet access services this year as well as possibility to pay invoices for taxes or other fees through their offices, said the Minister of Communication and IT, Dan Nica. During a meeting with CNPR representatives Minister Nica said that Romanian Mail is planning to upgrade its equipments and thus it would have the necessary resources to provide such resources.
Read MoreThe Royal Mail in the UK has announced the launch of SmartStamp, a digital postage stamp that can print stamps onto envelopes directly from a desktop computer.
The new offering is aimed at small firms and lets a company’s employees print the image of their choice – such as the company logo – onto an envelope and be used as a postage stamp. The Royal Mail provides the software required to create stamps and print them.
Pricing starts at GBP50 per year with the cost of stamps being deducted from a prepay account.
Read MoreDeutsche Post AG, the German postal service, may have to pay back subsidies granted by the German government for its pension schemes. The German government had provided the company’s pension funds with considerable financial support during the 1990s; this was necessary as Deutsche Post had retired 25 per cent of its officials early, with the aid of expensive settlements, when the company was privatised.
Read MoreUnions representing workers at An Post are expected to examine the accounts of the postal company over the next two weeks to investigate management’s claim that it is unable to pay the 3% increase due under the Sustaining Progress agreement.
Under the terms of the national partnership deal negotiated by the government, employers and trade unions, companies that decline to make agreed increases have to demonstrate their inability to pay.
Read MorePostmasters, under growing pressure to make ends meet, have been dealt another blow with the news that stamps will be available online.
The SmartStamp, unveiled by Royal Mail last week, means that going to the post office for stamps could become a thing of the past.
People who subscribe to the new service – costing GBP4.99 a month or GBP49.99 a year – will receive a CD-rom allowing them to print personalised stamps bearing their own logo on to labels or directly on to envelopes.
Read MoreExel acquires European pharma logistics group
Read MoreWith a gleaming new sign out front and more small packages than ever coming through his doors, these should be the best of times for UPS Store owner John Kelley.
But a blizzard of boxes in December — the peak holiday shipping month — masked what Kelley says is a troubling fact for him and some other UPS Store owners: The franchises are less profitable now than when UPS bought their parent company in 2001.
The problem for UPS Store owners, however, is that UPS capped store shipping rates — a boon for consumers who get lower prices but a hardship for store owners accustomed to steep markups.
Read More
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.
