Author: Archive

DHL Qatar unveils 24-hour service to India

Posted by | Sep 18, 2008 | |

DHL Express recently launched the “India Next Day” service, the first of its kind in Qatar, delivering shipments, to and from, three destinations in India within 24 hours.
“India Next Day” is a service offering in Qatar, utilising the diversified product portfolio of DHL to deliver packages to Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. The improved services cut lead times and shipment efficiency for individual and corporate clients requiring urgent express delivery.
According to the Federation of the Indian Export Organisations, there are five million Indians living and working in the GCC. In Qatar alone, Indians account for more than 18 per cent of the total population of the country. India’s total trade with GCC countries has witnessed a fourfold increase in the last five years.

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Royal Mail Group shakes up research structure (UK)

Posted by | Sep 18, 2008 | |

Royal Mail Group is dissolving its centralised research and insight function in favour of dedicated teams for each of its main brands: Royal Mail, Post Office and Parcelforce.

Crispin Beale, who led the Centre for Customer Insight & Competitor Intelligence as Director of Insight, Intelligence and Analysis, is to leave the company at the end of the month.

Sinead Jefferies will lead Royal Mail’s business intelligence team, with responsibility for research, insight, competitor and marketing intelligence.

A decision is still to be made on who will head up the Post Office research team, Beale said.

Dick Stead, Sales and Marketing Director for Parcelforce, will oversee research for that brand.

The restructure is not expected to lead to the scrapping of the 32-agency insight and analysis roster, which was appointed earlier this year to stand for a four-year period.

Beale said: “Different parts of the organisation have different research needs which need different skill sets, but all of those skill sets exist within the roster. I would envisage that the group will carry on working with that roster and won’t be needing to change it.”

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La Poste acquires Portuguese Baam

Posted by | Sep 18, 2008 | |

La Poste announced the acquisition of the Portuguese direct mail advertising company Baam for an undisclosed sum as part of its international expansion plans.

The takeover of Baam was carried out through La Poste’s postal services subsidiary Mediapost and shows the company’s ambitions to further expanding abroad and helping its customers in their development in Europe through its international activities. Following the takeover, Baam will operate under the brand Mediapost.

La Poste commented that it planned to expand its European mail operations in three areas: upstream mail operations, international mail consulting, and unaddressed advertising mail. It was already present with subsidiaries in Britain and the USA.

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Snail Mail is going digital (U.S)

Posted by | Sep 18, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is going digital on bulk mail service. Unique scannable bar codes will start to show up in May 2009 on business, first class mail and packages. The codes should speed up processing of that mail and will allow businesses as well as post offices to track the movement and delivery of each piece sent.

Businesses can expect the bar codes to bring the same kinds of efficiencies in data mining and management found online to snail-mail billing and direct marketing. The digital mail revolution, named “Intelligent Mail” by the USPS, will help companies zero in on their best sales prospects by much more quickly gauging response rates to mail offers and tweaking pitches if they flub.

By May 2011, all bulk mail must be coded to receive postage discounts, although, at first, mailers can choose whether or not to use Intelligent Mail. Figure about half of first-class mail will be voluntary participants.

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UPS Board Declares Dividend

Posted by | Sep 18, 2008 | |

The UPS Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of USD 0.45 per share on all outstanding Class A and Class B shares.

The dividend is payable Sept. 9, 2008, to shareholders of record on Aug. 25, 2008. UPS has either increased or maintained its dividend every year for more than three decades.

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DHL upgrades express service network in Finland

Posted by | Sep 17, 2008 | |

DHL started daily flights between Turku/Finland and Leipzig on 15th September, which means faster transport services for customers in Western and Central Finland. The flight between Helsinki and Leipzig continues to serve customers in Southern, Eastern and Northern Finland.
The new flight arrives in Turku at 8:30 and departs for Leipzig at 22:45. The Boeing 737 has a capacity of 16.5 tons and can carry also heavy and voluminous shipments.
Especially customers of Western and Central Finland will benefit from the new flight. Due to the late departure the customers have the entire working day at their disposal for gathering shipments for dispatch. The pickup times will be significantly later since the way to the airport now is shorter. During autumn, deliveries before noon – DHL EXPRESS 12:00 service – will be available in and around Turku. At present this service is offered in greater Helsinki area.

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Commission to study future of French post office

Posted by | Sep 17, 2008 | |

A commission will look at the future of the French post office, which is aiming for partial privatisation in 2010, government spokesman Luc Chatel said.

State-owned La Poste has announced plans for a partial sell-off of its activities ahead of the full liberalisation of the European postal services market from 2011.

Speaking after a meeting of the cabinet, Chatel said the 22-strong commission, to be headed by a former top executive of EDF, Francois Ailleret, would be made up of a wide range of members including customers, staff representatives and parliamentarians.

‘This commission will be charged with considering the future of the post office, reflecting on what developments are necessary, given the European environment and the competition that will appear on Jan. 1, 2011.

The commission will consider the issue during October and November, Chatel said.

Any move towards privatisation would require the postal service to become public limited company instead of a branch of the civil service.

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U.S. Postmaster General cautions of perfect economic storm

Posted by | Sep 17, 2008 | |

Postmaster General John E. Potter challenged the mailing industry, cautioning mailers about the severity of the current economic climate and urging them to create new growth opportunities.

Citing fluctuating oil prices, inflation in paper prices and the strife in the financial markets, Potter described challenging economic conditions as the most difficult time since the 1960s. The additional move of hardcopy messages to the Internet and questions about mail’s environmental impact have led to a volume decline of 9 billion pieces this year.

Despite the tough times, Potter called on the mailing industry to seek new sources of growth.

Despite the challenges ahead, Potter remains confident in the strength and commitment of the Postal Service and the mailing industry as a whole.

The Postmaster General’s comments came during the national Postal Customer Council (PCC) Day broadcast, an annual event that brings mailers, industry partners and customers together to recognize their contributions to the Postal Service and outline future plans and goals.

To help keep the lines of communication open, the Postal Service has launched the first official postal blog at 2blogPCC.com. Customers can discuss important topics facing the mailing industry, access the latest information and provide feedback.

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