Author: Archive

India Post to offer postal ID cards for address proof

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

The Postal Department will issue identity cards (ID), carrying the home address, to city residents from the second week of October.

To begin with, the new ID cards will be issued in Chennai and later in two tier cities, said M S Ramanujam, Post Master General, Chennai region.

It will be similar to a smart card. Priced at Rs.210 (USD 4.50) , it will have a hologram of India Post and the photograph of the cardholder. The ID card will have details of the person’s blood group and identification marks.

The cards are well-laminated and tamper-proof. They will be issued by the postmaster of the head post office and will be valid for three years.

The card is aimed at helping those who are new to the city, senior citizens, job seekers and others applying for gas and telephone connections.

The postal department will provide bona fide proof of address for them. It is up to the different agencies to accept it. On change of address, the card will be cancelled, Ramanujam said.

The department is also considering collection of electricity bills through the post office.

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Poor economy drives down mail volume at Postal Service (U.S)

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

The ailing economy has dealt the U.S. Postal Service its biggest quarterly drop in mail volume since 2002.

The Postal Service has already lost more than USD 1 billion this year, and officials say there’s no change in sight.

Mail volume has fallen every quarter since the first quarter of 2007, but the third quarter decline was the biggest since early 2002. The economic slowdown has been particularly tough for the Postal Service because the industries hit hardest — finance, energy and housing — are big mailers.

Rising fuel costs have also strained the Postal Service’s finances; expenses were up USD 200 million last quarter, largely due to gas prices.

The Postal Service has trimmed nearly USD 2 billion in costs this year, largely through a combination of new technology that improves efficiency and reductions in labor costs.

But postal officials say more reforms are needed.

The agency’s “network plan,” released this summer, calls for the closure of many large processing facilities that are no longer operating at full capacity. And the Postal Service is finalizing a new five-year plan, which will outline more changes to the postal network.

The five-year plan also calls for a realignment of the Postal Service’s retail facilities. The Postal Service hopes new mail-processing technology, like the Flats Sequencing System, will allow it to close its out-of-the-way retail facilities.

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Deutsche Post VAT privileges cut

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet agreed to reduce a tax break granted to Deutsche Post AG while extending the benefit to the mail carriers’ competitors.

Cabinet members meeting in Berlin agreed that from 2010 Deutsche Post will lose an exemption from charging value-added tax on some services such as bulk business mail. At the same time, the tax privileges given to Deutsche Post will be extended to competitors that match the former monopoly in providing universal services.

The step reflects Germany’s aim to “stay abreast of liberalization in the postal market,” the government said in a statement, adding that the plan meets a European Union demand for changes in value-added tax exemptions.
The measures, if approved by parliament, will mean Deutsche Post facing competitors who enjoy VAT privileges at the same time as banks and mail-order companies eat into its core business activities. The Bonn-based company has long fought against an amendment of its tax privilege, citing the costs of fulfilling its charter to provide a universal post service to Europe’s most populous nation.

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NZ Post profit up, but dividend down

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

New Zealand Post lifted annual net profit 26.9 percent to NZD 110.2 million, but its dividend payment to the Government will be 23.7 percent down at NZD 23.5 million.

The result for the year to the end of June was achieved on revenue up 7.9 percent to NZD 1.29 billion, and compared with net profit the previous year, restated for new accounting standards, of NZD 86.8m.

Chief executive John Allen said that in addition to a strong contribution from subsidiary Kiwibank, the NZ Post Group’s performance was well supported by a higher than expected contribution by the Datamail Group.

Traditional postal and retail businesses were affected by the economic slowdown during the second half of the year.

Factors contributing to the rise in net profit included a NZD 5.9m lift in Kiwibank’s net profit to NZD 36.8m, and a non-recurring gain of NZD 24.8m from the creation in June of joint venture Express Couriers Australia. NZ Post’s operating profit for the year rose 21.2 percent to NZD114.4m.

Mr Allen said the fall in dividend from the state-owned enterprise was partly due to the fact dividends were not paid on Kiwibank profits, as it was felt investment continued to be needed in that business. 1 USD = 1.45396 NZD

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Post offices of Azerbaijan to render financial services

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

Adoption of amendments to Law on Post Communications will not mean automatic permission for post services to start rendering financial and banking services.
Ziyad Samedzadeh, the chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission for Economic Policy, said the project stipulates transition period, but not as a concrete term.

This week the Parliamentary Economic Policy Commission recommended Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani parliament) discussed draft amendments to the Law on Postal Services permitting post offices to render financial and bank services.
Post offices are expected to render such bank services as certain settlements, issue of debit and credit cards, receipt of deposits, fast money transfers.
The system when post offices are drawn to render bank services has been applied effectively in Kazakhstan, France and Japan.

Azerbaijan is numbering 1,700 post offices currently.

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TNT strengthens international express network

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

TNT announced that it will add eight new branches to its international express network in China by the end of the year. The expansion, which forms part of TNT’s investment in China to strengthen its international express network, will bring the total number of TNT International Express branches in China to 34. In addition to its extensive international express network, TNT, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tiandi-Hoau, also operates China’s largest private domestic road network, which consists of 1,250 depots.
The TNT International Express branches at Dongguan and Zhongshan will begin their operations in the end of September 2008. This follows the opening of two earlier branches in Foshan, which opened on 1 August 2008 and in Shunde, which started operations on 1 September 2008. In addition, another four TNT International Express branches will be set up in Nanning, Wenzhou, Kunshan and Shanghai Pudong by the end of the year.

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Draft bill regarding VAT in the German postal market: TNT Post demands improvements

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

TNT Post in principle welcomes the fact that the German Federal Government is revising the VAT regulation in the postal market. This is a necessary step because the current VAT exemption for Deutsche Post AG is contrary to EU law and impedes competition. However, the present draft bill will not encourage competition in the postal market.
Inexact phrasing that is open to various interpretations enables Deutsche Post AG to maintain its VAT exemption. Through this VAT exemption, the German State has foregone tax revenues of up to EUR 500 million per year. There is no substantive reason for the long transitional period up to 1 January 2010.
Although the draft bill is a step in the right direction, it will not encourage fair competition conditions. TNT Post therefore calls upon the legislature to make improvements to the draft bill.
The current VAT exemption for Deutsche Post AG protects half the total volume of mail in its favour and thus distorts competition. The European Commission already opened an infringement procedure against the German State in early 2006. Together with the excessive minimum wage for postal services (a cost increase of over 20 pct) and the lack of price control (Deutsche Post AG discounts of up to 26 pct), the VAT disadvantage suffered by the new postal service providers (a cost disadvantage of 19 pct) prevents fair competition in the postal market.

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FedEx announces increase in daily capacity between Vietnam and global markets

Posted by | Sep 24, 2008 | |

FedEx Express announced it had launched a new Airbus A310 flight service to Vietnam to meet the country’s increasing demand for reliable time-definite express services. The new service increases FedEx capacity into and out of the country fivefold, to more than 30,000kg a day.

As a result of the new service, customers also enjoy an improvement in transit times into and out of the capital, Hanoi. Customer cut-off and transit times out of Ho Chi Minh City are unchanged.

Since FedEx first established operations in Vietnam in 1994, the company has worked to support the country’s efforts to become a key export market.

The upgraded Vietnam service also strengthens FedEx AsiaOne Network, which connects 19 key Asia cities with more than 400 intra-Asia flights each week. The network is interconnected with FedEx global network – covering North and South America, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

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