Author: Archive

USPS goes green

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is offering greener choices, and an easy, online resource for consumers to make environmentally friendly decisions about their mail.
From eco-friendly products and services to ideas for recycling and ways to help marketers create greener advertising, usps.com/green contains hundreds of facts, suggestions and programs to help improve environmental awareness and make it easier for consumers to go green — including a way to calculate carbon footprint savings by conducting Postal Service business online.
green web pages provide the extra benefit of one quick, easy and convenient location to learn how to be greener consumers. An easy-to-use navigation bar directs users to product, recycling, Postal Service environmental innovation, direct mail and ideas for greening mail, including links to local recycling centers, reusing boxes and packages for shipping, and ensuring home addressing is current to make sure consumers receive the mail they want and eliminate waste.
Customers also can order packing and shipping materials through the green site, including free Express Mail and Priority Mail boxes and envelopes that are Cradle-to-Cradle certified for environmental quality. A half billion Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes now meet higher environmental standards and more than 15,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions are eliminated every year.

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Roberts Europe expands network in Germany

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

Time-critical freight logistics company Roberts Europe has started expansion of its network in Germany with the opening of three new branches, according to media reports.

The new branches at Munich, Stuttgart and Nuremberg belong to a massive expansion plan of Roberts Europe in order to build up its own network in Germany. Plans include up to twelve new branches to be opened all over the country. The next openings are planned for Frankfurt and Leipzig.

The internationally operating company is headquartered in Maastricht, Netherlands and also has subsidiaries in Poland and Portugal. With 130 employees all over Europe, Roberts Europe had revenues of EUR 35 million in the last year. The company has a volume of about 60,000 shipments per year.

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UPS Freight extends reliability guarantee to Canada

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

The new reliability guarantee, offered at no additional cost, applies to direct shipments between points in the United States (48 contiguous states) and points served by UPS Freight service centers in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Windsor and Winnipeg. It is being offered at a time of continued strong trade growth between the two countries; the U.S. Transportation Department says surfacetransportation trade totaled USD 45 billion in February, up 18 pct over the prior year.
The on-time service guarantee is available effective June 30 for less-than-truckload (LTL) customers on both sides of the border who ship using the current UPS Freight UPGF525 tariff. The new guarantee promises that customers can request a waiver of their freight charges if their shipment fails to arrive as scheduled. Detailed terms of the guarantee can be found in the tariff.
UPS Freight’s Canadian service includes: a pre-arrival system that speeds clearance at border crossings, minimizing delays; electronic transmission of customs documentation; complete online tracking from origin to destination with instant access to all customs documents, and customs delay alerts and 24-hour access to all shipping information.
Since acquiring the former Overnite Transportation Co. in April 2005, UPS has enhanced UPS Freight’s service portfolio and reliability, optimized its delivery network and invested significantly in new technology. As a result, the LTL and truckload carrier is aligned with the global operations and performance standards of UPS’s small package and supply chain services.

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Postal Industry Launches Global Carbon Measurement System

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

The International Post Corporation (IPC) has launched an environmental measurement and monitoring system providing a common carbon measurement and reporting framework for the global postal industry.

The launch and formal adoption by IPC member postal operators including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, took place at IPC’s Annual Conference 2008 in La Chapelle en Serval, France on 30 May. The event was attended by CEOs from Europe, the Asia-Pacific and North America.
The system provides the postal industry with a transparent, scientific, sector specific carbon management and measurement system based on the requirements of international best practice standards, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, DJSI, FTSE4Good, ISO 14001, and current best practice from the corporate environment. The system evaluates performance through the application of a scoring system that grades performance in ten carbon management proficiency areas and in key numeric carbon efficiency indicators.

The environmental measurement and monitoring system was also built on best practice as exemplified by customers of IPC members and is highly responsive to customer requirements and interests in measuring their own carbon footprint in their value chains.

The system will be piloted in 2008, with results from the first round of measurement expected to be announced in November 2009.

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Polish Post to go on strike

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

Polish Post (Poczta Polska) has announced that it is to go on strike with effect from tomorrow.

Executives from Polish Post have failed to come to agreement with trade unions over working conditions at the company. As a result the company has announced that as of tomorrow, the national postal service is to go strike.

Bogumil Nowicki from the Polish Post branch of the “Solidarnosc” trade union has stated that 66,000 postal employees voted in favour of the strike.

Employees of the Polish Post are fighting for higher wages: 800 PLN gross (ca.USD 380) per month. In the final stages of the talks the union agreed to a 533 PLN gross pay rise.

The management board of Polish Post was ready to accept a 305 PLN gross rise, but the unions were not satisfied.

Bogumil Nowicki from “Solidarnosc” added that the national postal service is treated badly by politicians, as every government has tried to initiate various structural changes to the company.

The union representative went onto say that sometimes governments try and make the company more of a commercial enterprise, whereas others try to keep more in line with the company’s mission.

Union members working for Polish Post agree that these points cancel each other out and simply bring the company into paralysis.

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Royal Mail seeks Postcomm extension

Posted by | Jun 2, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has asked Postcomm to extend the suspension of the bulk compensation scheme for another year amid fears of further industrial action in the future.

The request comes on the back of poor performance figures released last week by Royal Mail. The postal services giant failed to achieve nine of the 12 minimum service targets in its licence, but claims the poor service levels were due to industrial action last summer.

Royal Mail only achieved an 85 per cent service level on first class mail against a target of 93 per cent. Last year, it achieved 94 per cent service levels for first class mail.

Postcomm is now consulting its stakeholders on whether to extend the suspension of compensation.

Speaking about the missed performance targets, Postwatch chair Millie Banerjee says: “What the figures do not reveal is what effect the strikes have had on the posting habits of social and business customers. Many of these customers had to find other ways to communicate. This will have reduced postal volumes, which will in turn damage Royal Mail’s financial stability for years to come.”

Average mailing volumes have been severely affected as a result of last year’s strikes, with daily volumes down from 84 million items to about 80 million.

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