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Royal Mail faces investigation over late letters

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is facing an investigation over claims that letters are being delivered late because postmen are failing to complete their rounds.

The mail watchdog, Postwatch, will look into the issue after receiving complaints from the organisation’s staff as well as customers.

Problems with postal deliveries have been blamed on new working practices introduced after strikes by the Communication Workers Union, and a new 56 mph speed limit for lorries, which means that mail is arriving later at sorting offices.

Postwatch will survey thousands of householders to find out whether mail is arriving on time.

The investigation will focus on a practice known as “cutting off”, where workers take undelivered mail back to the delivery office at the end of a shift, rather than finishing the round in overtime.

Royal Mail says it has already fitted its lorries with speed limiters in advance of European Union rules which will restrict their speed from January 1.

Postal workers, writing in an online forum, have threatened to disrupt deliveries at Christmas. One said: “I am cutting off every day in December.” Another said: “I for one will be finishing at my time.”

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The UPU publishes its world postal statistics for 2006

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Letter volumes are stabilizing, the growth in parcel volumes is continuing, and postal revenue is sharply up: these are the three major trends highlighted in the worldwide postal statistics for 2006, published today by the Universal Postal Union.
Since 1875, the UPU has gathered statistics from the operators designated by UPU members around the world to provide the universal postal service. Of the 191 UPU member countries, 163 responded to the 2006 questionnaire. The figures are therefore based on information provided by participating Posts and UPU estimates.

With a total of 433 billion mail items, domestic letter-post traffic was slightly up compared to 2005, returning to the same level as in 2000. The strongest growth was in Africa (+2.1 pct), while the Arab countries saw the biggest drop (-2.5pct). Generally speaking, advertising items had a positive impact on mail volumes, which have faced heavy competition from electronic communications over the past few years.

Volumes of international letter post (5.5 billion items) were down 2pct overall, though there was wide regional variation, with volumes up 8.1pct in the Caribbean, and down a full 15 pct in Africa.

With a total of 6.235 billion items in the domestic and international services combined, parcels traffic was up 4.8 pct compared to 2005.

The biggest rise in domestic parcels traffic was seen in Africa (+11.7). For the international service, it was Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which saw the biggest increase (+21.4pct). The delivery of merchandise ordered via the Internet is thought to be one of the growth factors.

With a total of 204.8 billion SDR* (equivalent to 308.1 billion USD), worldwide postal revenue was up 13pct compared to 2005. This growth was shared by three-quarters of UPU member countries. Letter post still generates more than half (52.3pct) of operating revenue, but this figure was 7.7pct lower than in 2005. Meanwhile, revenue generated by parcels and logistics services rose by 6pct to contribute 27pct of global revenue. Financial products accounted for 14pct of revenue.

*SDR = Special Drawing Right, the UPU’s official unit of account. At 31 December 2006,
1 SDR was worth 1.5044 USD.

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Pitney Bowes MapInfo Location Intelligence Guides La Curacao's Southwest Expansion Efforts

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes MapInfo announced that La Curacao, a Los Angeles-based department store chain targeting first and second generation Latinos, relies on Pitney Bowes MapInfo location intelligence solutions to gain a richer understanding of its target customers and conduct sophisticated sales forecasting to zero in on profitable sites for new stores.

With nine “big box” stores in Southern California and one newly opened store in Phoenix, Arizona, La Curacao is continuing to expand its presence in the Southwest with new stores in Las Vegas, Nevada.

La Curacao offers a comprehensive selection of household appliances, computers and electronics that appeal to the Hispanic community. Since La Curacao customers make the majority of their purchases on the store’s own credit card, the company possesses a wealth of customer data that is used to develop innovative ways to reach its target demographic and identify the most profitable locations for new stores.

Using AnySite® Online, an easy-to-use, Internet-based mapping and site reporting solution, La Curacao conducts geodemographic analysis on its customer information, which helps uncover potential new site locations and assess the profitability of future stores.

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DPD chooses BroadVision

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

BroadVision, Inc., a global provider of e-business solutions, announced today that DPD selected BroadVision(R) CAS(TM) (Commerce Agility Suite(TM)) 8.1 as the web platform and application for global deployment of its new Internet presence www.dpd.com and the new e-commerce applications.

“We have developed DPD from a company serving domestic markets to a real international organization. We’re focusing on expanding the network and offering our customers a homogeneous product portfolio with international products and fully integrated services,” says Dr. Pia-Maria Zecevic, Director Communications of DPD. “BroadVision enables us to create a multi-language site with an integrated system and application architecture. Ease of web content management; reusable components; and reduced maintenance and administrative overhead made the decision easy to go with BroadVision’s solution suite.”

“We are pleased that DPD, a leading European parcel provider, selected our innovative BroadVision Commerce Agility Suite as its web platform,” said Andrea Rubei, General Manager of EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), BroadVision, Inc. “BroadVision Commerce Agility Suite is a proven integrated platform for strategic companies that want superior flexibility, scalability and cost-effective components.”

DPD also chose BroadVision Global Services to implement the project.

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Technology: Ring tones seek to rival Dubai

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Older residents of Cairo remember the days of the party or shared line. Ring, ring. Both parties to the line – there were at least two – would race to the phone. If you got there second, the next door flat with whom the telephone was shared would ting the receiver to alert you to the fact that the call was for you.

And then there were international phone lines. Or rather there were not. Waiting lists ran into years, and the lucky recipient would have to leave a large deposit.

This persisted through the 1990s. And then came the GSM revolution.

Ten years on, mobile penetration rates by three mobile operators stand at 28m or about 35 per cent of the population, according to the ministry of communications and information technology. Other estimates put the penetration rate at up to 38 per cent.

The cheapest sim card can be bought for EGBP25 (USD5). ADSL line rental starts at EGBP45 a month. There are 400,000 DSL subscribers and 11.5m fixed-line users – up from 10.7m last year, according to ministry numbers.

Last year Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates paid USD2.9bn for a 15-year GSM and 3G licence. At the time the price was considered to be full.

But Etisalat in Egypt already has around 3m subscribers in nine months of operation. Etisalat owns 66 per cent of the subsidiary.

The remaining shares are held by a consortium including Egypt Post, National Bank of Egypt and Commercial International Bank, a local institution.

Observers are waiting for the granting of a second fixed-line licence next year.

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Royal Mail set to deliver a record 120 million items ordered online (UK)

Posted by | Dec 9, 2007 | |

Online retailers are set to enjoy a bumper Christmas this year as Royal Mail predicts it will deliver a record 120 million items ordered online this festive season – double the number handled just three years ago.

The UK’s 27 million online shoppers are expected to spend GBP 15 billion online in the run up to Christmas, up 60 per cent on last year, according to industry body IMRG.

Royal Mail has been working with internet retailers to plan for the online rush for Christmas presents and to ensure it delivers a high level of service.

And to help online stores offer the best service possible, Royal Mail recently launched two new services to improve the delivery experience for shoppers. Royal Mail Tracked enables retailers to provide their customers with a tracking number when the goods ordered are dispatched so that the shopper can track the progress of the delivery themselves. And the Safeplace service also gives shoppers the opportunity to specify a safe, alternative delivery point, such as a shed, porch or neighbour, should they not be at home to receive the item.

Royal Mail’s Home Shopping Tracker Study 2007 revealed that the average online shopper now purchases over 27 times a year, spending GBP 1,221. But the role of catalogues in the virtual world is a strong as ever, and shoppers who browse them before making purchases online spend GBP 1,526 a year – 25 per cent more than those who don’t.

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Kuwait postal sector to be privatized

Posted by | Dec 8, 2007 | |

A specialist team has been assigned the task of privatizing the postal sector,’ Al-Watan daily quoted Assistant Undersecretary for Postal Sector at the Ministry of Communications Saud Al-Asosi as saying.

There are several steps in privatizing the sector and the first step will be to establish a joint-stock company, he said, adding ‘the government will be the major shareholder and a certain percentage of the company’s shares will be floated for public subscription.’

The assistant undersecretary assured that all the 1,600 employees of the sector will retain their jobs even after the privatization and the company might recruit additional employees. ‘But the ministry will do the supervising and monitoring role and the company will have to abide by the conditions, terms, ministerial decisions and international postal regulations,’ he noted.

Asosi was optimistic that the change will boost the postal sector and will save the ministry a lot of expenses.

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