CheckFree and AT&T have announced that AT&T residential customers can now view and pay their long distance phone bills online at more than 150 Web sites in CheckFree’s electronic billing and payment (EBP) network. AT&T’s 60 million long distance customers can now realize the convenience of viewing and paying their bills via the Internet.
Whoosh! That sucking sound you hear is more messaging leaving the U.S. mail.
Read MoreThe Wall Street Journal has reported that the U.S. Postal Service is “planning to offer people living at all 120 million of the nation’s residential street addresses free e-mail addresses. It would link the e-mail and real-world addresses in a giant Postal Service database in Memphis, Tenn.”
Read MoreGlobal Collect, a subsidiary of Dutch postal operator TNT Post Group, today introduced its online payment service that accepts multiple currencies and payment methods such as credit card, bank transfer, cheque or giro. Called WebCollect, the service–launched today in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia–is targeted at online merchants with a global customer base. There are plans to roll out the service in the US and UK next week, and to other parts of Asia next year.
Read MoreBritish government plans to deliver the U.K. Post Office greater commercial freedom to provide a world class service for the 21st century took a further step forward today when the Postal Services Bill received Royal Assent. The principal provisions of the Act are:
to convert the Post Office into a plc to underline the commercialisation of the business (though the legislation restricts the disposal of shares in the Post Office company) allowing the Post Office company to take advantage of greater commercial freedom;
to clarify and consolidate the independent regulatory and consumer representative framework, putting it on a basis similar to that for the private utilities;
to redefine the Post Office’s monopoly area, to be known as the reserved area, and enable other postal service companies to offer services within this area if granted a licence by the regulator;
to enshrine and protect in law the Universal Service Obligation, guaranteeing deliveries to every address in the country and collections every working day at a uniform price regardless of distance of delivery; and
subject to the need to preserve the universal service, to promote greater competition either through reductions in the scope of the reserved area or by increased licensed competition within the reserved area.
According to Traffic World, “like its big sister FedEx Express, FedEx Home Delivery is fanatical about service. It also is billing itself as the ‘friendly service,’ giving package recipients small tokens of appreciation every quarter. Currently drivers are leaving purple and green refrigerator magnet frames at customers’ doors.”
Read MoreAgence France Presse has reported that Deutsche Post intends to float its shares in seven European countries. Shares should go on sale November 6 in Austria, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Weak sales on the French stock exchange in July 1999 and June 2000 from stocks of Deutsche Telekom has prompted Deutsche Post to avoid France.
Read MoreThe U.S. Postal Service’s competitors continue to grouse that the USPS enjoys “unfair” competitive advantages.
Read MoreThe MRU Consultancy (Germany) has reported that the German Post Office has taken next steps in the “European Parcel War”. Just a few days after the acquisition of part of the parcel network of competitor DPD, Post Office subsidiary German Parcel allegedly presented an offer to another DPD-Franchisee, the Hellmann Group of Partners. Hellmann, the biggest DPD-partner, is running six depots in the northern part of Germany and their parcel business is said to be nearly twice that of Dachser, which was acquired by GP just one week ago. An internal source mentioned that GP is willing to pay more than EUR 200 mio. for the acquisition; that will mean a price about 30% higher than was paid to Dachser. “If this rumor proves to be true,” MRU sources said, “the pressure on La Poste will continue to grow.”
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