Author: Archive

Firebox signs deal with Royal Mail Sameday (UK)

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

Online gadget retailer Firebox.com has signed a deal with Royal Mail’s Sameday service to offer customers within the M25 an extra delivery option in the run up to Christmas. The Sameday service offers those within the M25 delivery between 6pm and 9pm if they place an order before 2pm.
Firebox.com already offers a range of delivery options including Royal Mail’s Local Collect service, which allows customers to ask for an item to be taken directly to a Post Office branch if they know they will not be at home to receive it.

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Japan Post to offer logistics service to Eastern Europe

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

Japan Post plans to start delivering automotive and electronic parts to Eastern Europe later this year utilising the network of La Poste’s German affiliate DPD, Japanese media reported.

The mail and parcel delivery service unit of Japan Post Holdings, Japan Post Service, plans distribution services to Japanese companies’ plants in Eastern Europe starting with services to Hungary next month. Delivery services to Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will follow next year, according to Jiji Press. This comes as an increasing number of Japanese companies are setting up production bases in the region.

In July, La Poste and Japan Post signed an agreement for an international logistics partnership effective until 2011. It was reported that the in-depth cooperation focuses on mutual distribution of export shipments in Europe and Japan and that the two national postal operators planned to offer distribution services between Japan and Europe using the networks of their respective logistics units.

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EU OKs aid on Poste Italiane bond distribution

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

Remuneration paid by Italy to Poste Italiane for postal bond distribution between 2000 and 2006 did not constitute illegal state aid because it was in line with market rates, the European Commission ruled on Wednesday. .
The Commission started looking into Poste Italiane’s activities in postal bond distribution in 2006, following a complaint.
Poste Italiane is remunerated for distributing postal savings books and postal bonds on behalf of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, whose mission is to foster the development of public investment, local utility infrastructure works and major public works of national interest.
Postal bonds are fund-raising instruments with a low risk profile, as reimbursement is state-guaranteed. The services of placement, management and redemption of postal bonds have to be free of charge for the subscribers.
The collection of postal savings through Poste Italiane on behalf of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti has been qualified as a Service of General Economic Interest since October 2004.
This means Poste Italiane is entitled to receive remuneration for the distribution of postal bonds as compensation for the provision of this public service obligation.
Since 2000, this remuneration has been based on successive Italian conventions.

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Finland: Postal services disappearing from remote areas

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

Postal services of small rural communities are disappearing, as increasing numbers of shopkeepers decide that doubling as a post office is not worth the bother.

Many say that the compensation paid by Itella Corporation (formerly Finland Post), which is responsible for postal services in Finland, is insufficient.

The compensation paid by Itella to private businesses for providing postal services largely depends on how many packages and other deliveries customers pick up from the office.

Itella’s Ritva Vuorenmaa says that cooperation with business owners is functioning well.

“Most of the entrepreneurs are very satisfied with the cooperation”, she says. “They have calculated that they get benefits from increased customer and cash flow, in addition to what we pay them.”

In recent years the outsourcing programme has led to a situation where in June 2008 Itella administered directly only around one in six post offices, with roughly 1,000 of Finland’s 1,200 post office service points in private businesses such as shops or kiosks.

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Mandelson fuels Royal Mail speculation

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

A crucial review on the future of Royal Mail is set to be delayed, Lord Mandelson suggested on Tuesday (21st October), as he fuelled speculation that the loss-making postal operator would be privatised.
The Financial Times’ revelation earlier this week that the business secretary supported in principle the partial privatisation of Royal Mail caused a furore among unions and Labour MPs, who see public ownership of the company as a totemic manifesto commitment.
He refused to set any deadline for publishing a government-commissioned review of the postal services sector by Richard Hooper, the former telecoms regulator.
The Hooper review, which will set the context for government decisions on Royal Mail’s future, was expected to report to ministers earlier this month.
The business secretary admitted that the Hooper review’s initial findings earlier this year “paint a rather stark picture of the huge challenges facing Royal Mail”.
But he appeared sceptical in response to calls from Labour MPs to apply tougher pricing controls to Royal Mail’s rivals.
The two principal problems facing the state-owned operator – a reduction in the overall volumes of letters being sent and a huge pensions deficit – “are not down to regulation”, said Lord Mandelson.

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Logistics and ICT ensure growth in Norway Post

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

Acquisitions and an increase in volume in the Logistics and ICT segments led to the operating revenues for the first three quarters of 2008 increasing by 7 percent compared to the same period in 2007. The total operating revenues came to NOK 20.8 billion.

The combined operating revenues increased by NOK 1.4 billion, of which acquired companies contributed MNOK 721 (53 percent) while the Group’s organic growth contributed MNOK 679 (47 percent).

The Group’s earnings before non-recurring items and impairment losses (EBITE) as at 30 September 2008 came to MNOK 345, a reduction from the MNOK 414 on the same date in 2007. This reduction is mainly due to lower volumes of mail advertising and banking transactions, a change in the mix of letter products, increased personnel and transport costs and the investment in the new brand. The EBIT from logistics and ICT operations increased.

”The Group’s ICT and Logistics segments have grown and their earnings have increased, while the Post segment is affected by a decline in volume and increased personnel and transport costs which cannot be compensated for by corresponding increases in the revenues,” says Group CEO Dag Mejdell.

1 USD = 7.17428 NOK

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SkyPostal Networks Launches New Cross-Border Internet Shopping Facilitator

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

SkyPostal Networks, Inc.announced its launch of a new parcel logistics service under the PuntoMio brand (www.puntomio.com). PuntoMio.com offers online international shopping assistance with U.S. e-tailers, and provides international transport, customs clearance and delivery to cross-border shoppers.
SkyPostal President and CEO, Albert Hernandez, said, “In line with our growth strategy, we are leveraging our established private postal network to enter the parcel post market by facilitating cross-border Internet shopping. The worldwide parcel market has been growing 8 pct per year to 6.5 billion items in 2007. The economical parcel post service offered by the national posts lacks interconnectivity between the world’s Posts. It does not provide a visible and seamless merchant-to-consumer cross-border service as provided by the costly private express couriers like FedEx and UPS. PuntoMio.com combines proven B2C logistics know-how, mail delivery network and catalog marketing experience to offer on-line merchants the opportunity to market their products to international customers without the inherent risks associated with cross-border parcel delivery.

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Direct mail industry supports Royal Mail privatisation plans (UK)

Posted by | Oct 22, 2008 | |

The UK direct mail industry has thrown its weight behind Lord Mandelson’s call for the partial privatisation of the Royal Mail, expecting it to be a positive move for the industry.
The call from the business secretary comes weeks before the government’s review of the postal service.

Gurdev Singh, Managing Director of direct mail printer Howitt, said: “Partial privatisation? I think it should be fully privatised. There needs to be drastic changes.”

He added: “At the moment, it seems that Royal Mail is fighting with one arm stuck behind its back and I agree that maintaining the status quo is imply not an option.”

Alex Walsh, Head of Postal Affairs at the DMA, echoed his thoughts saying the association “would like to see an efficient, profitable Royal Mail and it has been questioned before whether this can happen in its current structure”.

The postal regulator Postcomm earlier this year put its weight behind the partial privatisation of Royal Mail. It argued that access to private capital coupled with a stronger set of incentives were necessary to help it restructure and become more profitable.

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