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A postal sector focused on the future

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

International postal services are moving resolutely towards the future, declared Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union, at the close of the 24th Universal Postal Congress, which ended its three weeks of discussions today.

“From Bucharest to Geneva, the whole tone has changed. Four years ago, an air of pessimism hung around the future of postal services” said Dayan. “Today, our agenda includes e-commerce, technological development, intelligent mail, facilitation of international trade and exchanges, electronic money transfers, sustainable development, international cooperation, postal infrastructure at the service of development policies, and development – rather than downsizing – of the universal service”. At the closing session of Congress, the Director General also described the many faces of a sector which is active on all fronts of the global economy, in the face of burgeoning new technologies and the growth of globalization and international trade.

Aside from the elections, Congress also examined 300 proposals and resolutions relating to the structure of the UPU, its mission and finances, and to international exchanges of letters, parcels and money transfers between postal operators the world over. In terms of operations, for example, minimum security standards and processes for postal operators will be drawn up, and Posts are invited to work more closely with customs authorities to identify counterfeit or pirated articles sent through the mail.

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Royal Mail USO needs funding says Lawson

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail the postal industry news site said it was ‘highly probable’ that Royal Mail would have to consider reducing the frequency of its deliveries or cutting back on some of its services if fuel costs continue to remain high and more business was lost to rivals.

“Royal Mail is providing a very expensive service whilst continuing to lose market share” he said.

“Raising stamp prices to meet increased costs isn’t something that Royal Mail is able to do at will either, and often there’s a real lag between pricing and operating costs which puts Royal Mail at a real disadvantage. Present stamp prices are fixed until 2010 but that doesn’t take into account the sharp increase in diesel prices.”

“Royal Mail wants to provide the best service it can, as indeed do postal workers themselves, but the business is under huge pressure from Postcomm to reduce its operating costs. The six day a week service is an expensive one to provide, as is the universal service which guarantees a minimum collection and delivery service even to areas that are incredibly costly to provide. Sending a postman into the back of beyond to deliver a 34p letter isn’t exactly profitable. Add declining mail volume as well as business lost to rivals, and it becomes fairly obvious that maintaining such a high level of service is an enormous task. I doubt its sustainable unless stamp pricing becomes more flexible. It seems highly probable that some key part of its service will go.”

“There needs to be a fixed funding for the USO if Royal Mail is to be able to compete on fair terms but no decision has been made on who should pay for it in the longer term. Postcomm has already said that it isn’t keen to share that cost between operators as that would effectively undo its own efforts to help stimulate competition. Postwatch too, suggested some contribution from all postal operators but to date, it remains unresolved and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Royal Mail reports an even bigger loss on the USO this year. Its not an issue we can ignore.”

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DHL wins GBP 3.6 million British Home Stores contract (UK)

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

DHL Exel Supply Chain announced a new GBP 3.6 million (4.5 million euro) contract over three years to provide logistics e-fulfilment warehousing services for Bhs throughout the UK. This contract is an addition to DHL’s existing business with the major high street retailer and will involve handling over 150,000 customer orders each year.

DHL is to deliver a range of services to Bhs including: processing customer orders; processing customer returns; value added services and customer helpdesk services. The company will handle a variety of products for Bhs including clothing, gifts, home and lighting products

This additional contract was awarded to DHL after a competitive tender process. DHL’s capability will support growth of the online ordering business, reduce operating costs and improve service levels.

Bhs currently also uses DHL Global Forwarding for outbound freight logistics services and DHL Express for 24 and 48 hour parcel delivery services.

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Appel states DHL has to shut down Ohio facility

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net CEO Frank Appel has rejected growing US political criticism of DHL’s plans to close its air hub at Wilmington, Ohio, with the likely loss of some 8,000 jobs, and to switch airlift operations to rival UPS.
The plans have drawn criticism from US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, the region’s members of Congress and local politicians. The US Congress plans two hearings on the proposed DHL-UPS deal in September.
DHL Express had to shut the hub as part of its restructuring programme in order to reduce its heavy US losses, Appel told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview, echoing his similar comments at the company’s recent half-year financial press conference.
The DPWN chief again stressed that UPS would remain a competitor to DHL despite supplying a service, and pointed out that a similar deal between the USPS and FedEx had been approved, despite being much larger in volume.
Appel added that the company was ready to set up a support programme for affected employees and the region to help people find new jobs, but he had no plans to travel to the USA, as Republican candidate John McCain had proposed.

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UPS spends USD 1.3M lobbying

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

UPS Inc. spent more than USD1.3 million in the second quarter to lobby on issues including its plan to carry air packages in North America for DHL, according to a recent disclosure form.

The Atlanta-based company also lobbied on the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, appropriations for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, as well as legislation dealing with patent reform, data security and health care policy.

UPS also lobbied on aviation safety issues and technology, as well as UPS’ “proposed airlift agreement with DHL,” according to the form posted online July 16 by the House clerk’s office.

The second quarter runs from April through June. On May 28, UPS announced it was seeking to work out a contract with DHL that would involve UPS providing the air transport of DHL packages between airports in North America, but not the pickup or delivery of DHL packages to customers.

UPS asserts the federal government does not have authority over the vendor relationship.

Besides Congress, UPS lobbied the departments of Transportation, Homeland Security, labor and other agencies in the April through June period.

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Consultative Committee set for a second term

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

Charles Prescott, Chairman of the Direct Marketing Association in the United States, has been re-elected as head of the UPU’s Consultative Committee. Murray Buchanan, International Development Director with Royal Mail, will assume the vice-chairmanship. This committee, which was created at the 2004 Bucharest Congress, is mandated to represent the interests of the postal sector in the wider sense, and to act as a framework for effective dialogue between postal sector partners.

The CC is made up of 19 non-governmental organizations representing customers, delivery service providers, organizations of workers, suppliers of goods and services to the postal sector, and similar organizations of individuals and companies with an interest in international postal services.

Knowing that they can breathe new life into the organization by representing the point of view of customers/suppliers, the members of the CC wish to play an increasingly important role in areas such as support for postal reform, the environment and sustainable development, the universal postal service and postal security.

They have contributed to the development of the new Nairobi Postal Strategy, and will play an active part in its implementation, along with governments, designated postal operators and the Restricted Unions.

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DHL Express Singapore Renames Product Portfolio to Reflect Time Specific Services

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

DHL announced that it has completed an across-the-board portfolio renaming of its best-in-class products in Singapore. The renaming exercise is part of the global alignment of product portfolio which began in more than 220 countries and territories serviced by DHL’s global network in January 2008, and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Its completion has enabled DHL Express Singapore to harmonize a variety of product names to a single set of standard, logical and easy-to-understand names that aids recall and helps customers to select the products that best meet their express shipping needs.

The new names reflect the time specific nature of shipments to their destinations. By offering products based on a logical system of time-definite and day-definite choices, customers can now choose product services that offer flexibility and reliability based on speed, destinations and weights.

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FedEx Ground names Entrepreneurs of the Year (USA)

Posted by | Aug 12, 2008 | |

FedEx Ground recognized three small business owners with one of the company’s highest honors for independent contractors. Keith Herzig of Hartford, Conn., Sunil K. Patel of Philadelphia and Raymond Skiptunis of Trenton, N.J., were named FedEx Ground Entrepreneurs of the Year at a banquet recognizing them for their business development, customer service results, safety record, and community support.
The FedEx Ground Entrepreneur of the Year honor was established in 2007 to pay tribute to those independent contractors who have built businesses that most consistently go the extra mile to safely deliver superior customer service, help fellow independent contractors succeed, and support their local communities. Of the more than 13,000 independent contractors supporting the FedEx Ground network, Herzig, Patel and Skiptunis were recognized for best exemplifying these traits in 2007-2008.
Since the founding of the Entrepreneur of the Year program, FedEx Ground has named 140 regional honorees. Herzig, Patel and Skiptunis were selected from a group of 20 finalists from this year’s regional winners.

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