Author: Archive

India Department of Posts to mechanise sorting system

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

As part of modernisation drive, the Department of Posts (DoP) will mechanise its sorting system in metros and other cities, set up national mail grid and take four aircraft on lease to deliver mails in the quickest possible time.

“Currently, Chennai and Mumbai Circles have machines that are 10 years old and have not reached their full capacity. Besides, they do not have higher capacity. With manual intervention around 2,000 mails are being sorted out in seven and a half hours daily, whereas the sorting machines in Italy and the U.S. have capacities to sort out around 40,000 to 50,000 mails a day,” Postal Services Board Member (Operation and Marketing) K. Noorjehan told The Hindu on Wednesday.

Apart from China, Postal Services departments in major countries use both bar-coding and optical character recognition (OCR) method to sort out mails. India will use both technologies, since it has several languages and character recognition is complicated in certain cases.

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Labour news from UNI global union

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

An extraordinary meeting of UNI Post & Logistics global union has given the go ahead to step up campaigning across the sector. A key target is DHL.

A global alliance of DHL trade unions is being launched to build union membership and to win a global agreement that recognises labour rights wherever DHL operates around the world.

UNI – which already has DHL organising projects in Hong Kong and Latin America – will direct the campaign and help develop the research on which specific activities will be based. Verdi, which is the home union for Deutsche Post, will also play a key role.
It was agreed to set up a Steering Group to oversee the campaign that will also lay the foundations for future campaigns in other post and logistic multinationals.

The meeting agreed to step up cooperation with the International Transport Workers Federation as boundaries between postal operators and transport/logistics giants become increasingly blurred with de-regulation of postal services well underway in Europe and Japan.

Meeting advisor Paul Goulter with Post & Logistics President Rolf Büttner

UNI Post & Logistics is to set up a UNI Regulation Watch to assist affiliates in challenging the increasingly political decisions of postal regulators.

Many of their decisions determine how effective protection will be for the universal postal service, on which communities and jobs depend. Unions will have to become increasingly nimble as new and often-small private operators increasingly employ workers in the sector.

Unions are to be encouraged to help develop new services in the traditional postal operators – like delivering remittance money across the world for migrant workers to support families back home. The aim is to challenge the growing trend by governments under a political agenda to cut back the activities of traditional operators and allow outside private companies to cherry pick their services.

In Europe protection for traditional postal operators will disappear from 2011/13 as a result of a decision by the European Union while Japan Post is already in a ten-year process of division and privatisation.

“Europe has come up with a rotten piece of legislation,” UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings told the meeting in Nyon, Switzerland. “The EU has washed its hands of protecting the postal service and we have to help national trade unions defend this key service to the public.”

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Correos adds the first electric cars to its fleet (Spain)

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

Correos will start using electric vans and bicycles for postal deliveries. For the start up of these pilot projects, the postal company approved at the end of 2007 the purchase of the first commercial vehicles (five) and bicycles (nine) adapted for carrying small loads, which will make the postal carriers’ jobs easier in the pedestrian-only areas, where they are currently required to deliver large volumes of post on foot, manually.

This initiative is in addition to others promoted by Correos to stay ahead of the anti-pollution guidelines and regulations adopted by the European Union. In fact, the Spanish public operator, which has also ratified its commitment as a socially responsible company, already purchased 28 “Euro-4” lorries in 2006, ahead of the EU mandate.

These types of vehicles are more expensive than conventional vehicles, but their useful life is longer and they are less expensive to use and maintain. This advantage is added to the environmental benefits, since they don’t use oil-based fuel, the contaminating effects are drastically reduced. Furthermore, they do not generate any noise.

With the addition of ecological vans and bicycles to Correo’s fleet, which comprises over 13,000 vehicles including lorries, vans and motorbikes, and in which it has invested an average of EUR 14 million in the last three years, the public postal operator strengthens its contribution to environmental protection.

The van model chosen has a useful load capacity of over 400 kg and its side doors and rear door are very practical to handle, even with the bulkiest parcels.

Once these vehicles and bicycles have been tested and adapted for mail deliveries in the respective pilot projects, Correos will gradually add more ecological units.

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DHL re-launches ‘university express’ service

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

DHL, has re launched its ‘university express’ service in Pakistan, designed especially for students applying for international admissions to universities and colleges around the world.

Yasin Amanullah, DHL’s National Marketing Manager, said, “With DHL’s university express, students can rest assured that their applications will be delivered safely and on time. When students are looking for timely delivery of their applications to meet university and college deadlines, all at an affordable price, university express stands out as the obvious solution”.

He said increasing competition for overseas university admissions has led more students to focus on ensuring their applications are sent and received on time. Students who will use the university express service by DHL, also enjoy over 30 percent discount on the special service.

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Earth Class Mail Plans Retail Stores, Raises USD 13 Million

Posted by | Jan 11, 2008 | |

Earth Class Mail has closed USD 13.3 million in Series A funding, according to CNET. Ignition Partners of Bellevue, Washington, led the round, and more than half of the money was raised by Keiretsu Forum. Earth Class Mail customers have their mail sent to the company rather than a personal address. Then letter openers, staffed with disabled veterans with Department of Defense security clearance, scan the envelopes and upload images to the Web. Customers then decide which items to have opened and read, recycled, or forwarded.

Earth Class Mail’s users recycle 90 percent of mail received, whereas only 20 percent of mail delivered to someone’s door gets recycled. With the new funding, the company plans to open a chain of retail stores, beginning in Manhattan early this year.

One recent study revealed that many consumers think direct mail accounts for more waste than is actually the case.

ViaPost, which plans to launch soon in the UK, claims to cut carbon emissions from postal deliveries by 20-25 percent.

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