Author: Archive

Post Office (UK) confirms branch closure decision making approach

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

Post Office Ltd confirmed the approach it will take to finalising decisions regarding branch closures and other changes to existing branches following the Local Public Consultation process which is now underway in some parts of the UK.

During each public consultation significant correspondence is received from stakeholders and information arising from this correspondence is carefully considered against prescribed Government criteria and factors when final decisions are made. Additionally, Post Office Ltd has set up with Postwatch, the consumer body representing customers, a three stage review process for these decisions, with increasing seniority of the respective management teams participating in each stage, culminating in a member of Post Office Ltd’s board and the Postwatch Chair (or their appointed deputy).

Furthermore, after stage 3, Allan Leighton, Chairman of Royal Mail Group, will review any unresolved cases at the request of Postwatch.

Allan Leighton said, “Taking the decision to close any Post Office branch is always exceptionally difficult. I know it will always cause concern to many of our customers. We are absolutely committed to examining the most difficult decisions at the highest level, to make sure that all the information available has been considered and that the criteria set by the Government have been met.”

Pat McFadden, Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs, commented, “I welcome this development to Post Office Ltd’s consultation review process. Allan Leighton, as chair of the Royal Mail Group and the most senior voice in the Company, will now act as final arbiter in the case of particularly controversial and contested closure decisions which Post Office and Postwatch cannot resolve bilaterally.

This demonstrates how serious the Company is about the proper handling of what is necessarily a difficult process.”

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DHL USA delivers the spirit of the holiday season to U.S. troops in the Middle East

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

DHL is partnering with local communities in New York and Southern California to deliver live holiday trees and decorations to U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East through DHL’s annual Trees for Troops charitable program. Since 2004, DHL’s Trees for Troops program has collected and shipped thousands of holiday trees, lights, ornaments, menorahs and messages of support to the brave men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Kuwait.

This year, local businesses, organizations, private citizens and nurseries on the east and west coasts of the country will join forces with DHL in donating and delivering 750 trees and holiday decorations overseas. DHL will host official send-off events for this year’s Trees for Troops shipments on December 3rd in New York and on December 7th in Riverside, Calif.

DHL launched its annual Trees for Troops program in December 2004, when Jim Adelis, a New York businessman whose son was stationed in Iraq at the time, reached out to DHL to assist in transporting a shipment of trees to the Middle East. In November and December 2004, with the help of the U.S. Army Reserve 77th Regional Readiness Command, Dee’s Nursery and the local New York metro community, DHL delivered two shipments featuring a total of 135 trees and holiday decorations from JFK to troops stationed at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.

DHL was the first international air express carrier to provide service to Iraq and Afghanistan following the lifting of sanctions and operates the most extensive logistics service into these countries. DHL announced the start of operations to Afghanistan in March 2002 and Iraq in March 2003.

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trans-o-flex starts service campaign

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

trans-o-flex Schnell-Lieferdienst has developed a modular system of services that enables its customers to completely meet the tightened legal provisions made on the pharmaceutical industry. The Weinheim-based specialist for business solutions announces the introduction of another innovation in the world of transportation and logistics: in January 2008, the company will present an active temperature control system for high-quality and extremely sensitive goods that covers the range of between 8 and 25°C.

The development of the new service was driven by the tightened provisions made on the transportation and storage of pharmaceuticals. In accordance with the German Ordinance on the Production of Pharmaceuticals and Active Substances (AMWHV), critical parameters, such as temperature and air humidity, have to be measured and documented not only during production and storage but also over the entire supply chain. To this end, trans-o-flex, within the scope of a service campaign, has now developed a modular system that enables customers to select the individual components relevant for them.

Currently, trans-o-flex already takes over the transportation of goods that have to be stored at temperatures ranging from between plus 2° and 8°C. This special service is offered by trans-o-flex’s ThermoMed subsidiary. “Due to the separate handling of the temperature ranges from 2° to 8°C and from 8° to 25°C in two different networks, we can guarantee our customers maximum quality with respect to maintaining the temperature ranges”, explains Mohorn.

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DHL inaugurates EEMEA aviation regional head office in Bahrain

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

The inauguration follows the transfer of two of DHL’s main aviation services centres from Africa and Europe to Bahrain allowing the company to focus more on the customers’ needs.

The move entailed the operations of the Harare and Brussels-based centres being merged and relocated to Bahrain, to serve the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe (EEMEA) from one central base.

Prior to July 2007, EEMEA Aviation functioned as three independent areas and was broken down as follows: Sub Sahara Africa, Middle East and Commonwealth Independent States, Eastern Europe and North Africa (CISEENA).

‘The centralization will allow DHL Aviation EEMEA to focus more on the customers’ needs, with the company able to react quicker to market demands with an in-depth concentration on Customer Operations, Key Accounts and General Sales’, McEwen added.

In the EEMEA region, DHL operates 44 aircraft flying approximately 54,000 block hours annually. It is a diversified and complex region with a large geographical area to service, which requires a viable mix of aircraft and flexibility in scheduling.

The Middle East aviation network operates 16 aircraft, and extends to at least 20 cities in the area that include Jeddah, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Baghdad, Lahore, and Kabul.

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USPS offers “Dinero Seguro,” Money Orders

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service offers Dinero Seguro (usps.com/money/suremoney) and Postal Money Orders for those customers, providing them with a safe, affordable, convenient method of transferring money internationally and domestically.

Dinero Seguro enables customers to send up to USD 2,000 per transaction per day and is available at 2,800 participating Post Offices across the United States. Identification is required for transfers exceeding USD 1,000.

The system uses secure, electronic wire transfers between the Postal Service and thousands of participating bank branch offices in destinating countries. The recipient’s funds are available within 15 minutes, guaranteed, and without hidden, or additional fees.

Personal identification also is required for the recipients of funds in the participating countries. Recipients do not need bank accounts and pay no additional fees in their countries.

Customers wishing to send money gifts within the United States can purchase Postal Money Orders, a safe, convenient and economical alternative to sending cash through the mail. Money orders can be purchased from any Post Office in the United States as well as from rural letter carriers in denominations up to USD 1,000. A current government- or state-issued identification is required for multiple money order purchases totaling USD 3,000 in a single day.

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China Post to auction hotels to shed non-core assets

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

China Post Group, operator of the country’s postal system, will auction off 60 hotels, an asset exchange said, as the government urges state companies to shed non-core businesses.

The China Beijing Equity Exchange, a site for trade in unlisted assets, said on its Web site that China Post would sell the hotels through an auction at the exchange.

An exchange official said the hotels, located in 24 provinces across China, would be subject to further valuation but would be worth a total of at least four billion yuan (USD 541 million).

China Post put 30 hotels up for sale in June in an auction in Shanghai and aims to sell all 400 of its hotels by the end of 2008.

China’s state asset watchdog, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, has urged major state-run companies to focus on their main businesses and sell unrelated operations to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

Sinopec Corp, Asia’s top refiner, plans to sell its hotel businesses to China Travel Service Ltd.

China Post Group was created in January in a restructuring aimed at improving efficiency in the country’s postal system, which was previously operated by the government itself.

Home Inns & Hotel Management Inc, China’s biggest budget hotel chain, said in July it was in talks with China Post on the purchase of some properties as it aims to quadruple the number of its hotels to 1,000 in the next few years.

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Austrian Post Wants to Invest in Bulgaria

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

Austrian postal operator ‘Oesterreichische Post’ wants to get into Romanian, Bulgarian and Bosnian market in the coming 15 months, Reuters informed, cited by money.bg.
We want to set up a network in the fragmented South-Eastern European market, company’s Chief Financial Officer Rudolf Jettmar said on Tuesday.

We want to fill in our blank spots in Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania, Jettmar added.

He also specified that the postal operator is aiming to take over private operators working in parcel delivery or distribution of advertising.

‘Oesterreichische Post’ has spent 210 million EUR on takeovers in the first 3 quarters of 2007. The Austrian Post is already present in Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.

Osterreichische Post AG was founded on March 3, 1999 as a subsidiary of Post and Telekom Austria. Its core business activities are provision of postal and parcel services as well as handling of financial business in cooperation with BAWAG P.S.K., a partner of many years.

The Austrian Post has a sales network that is unique in Austria. With comprehensive investments in modernization of post offices and the entire logistics, the business will continue to focus on customer needs and consistently move forward on its way from a public agency to a modern service company.

New products and services will not only help ensure national market leadership in future, but shall also pave the way to international activities.

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Poste Italiane valued at 14-15 Billion Euros

Posted by | Nov 28, 2007 | |

Italy’s postal service Poste Italiane has been valued by investment banks at between 14 billion to 15 billion euros (USD 20.62- USD 22.09 billion) and is ready for a public offering as soon as the government decides to launch it, its CEO said. State-owned Poste Italiane, one of Italy’s largest non-publicly traded companies, has boosted profitability and revenue in recent years by expanding outside the mail business into more lucrative segments such as financial services. Poste Italiane has been considered among the assets Italy’s centre-left government could sell to lower public debt. Sarmi has previously said he prefers a two-phase listing similar to that of Germany’s Deutsche Post, where the whole group went public first before its banking unit was listed.

An IPO of Poste Italiane could be launched at anytime, but there was little to suggest it was imminent, he said. “Up to now, I do not see at the horizon line anything special that is moving,” he said. “It’s a political issue. In terms of technical aspects, I think we’re ready – profitability, all the functionalities, (reporting) under accounting standards. All that’s needed for becoming public are ready.” A couple of investment banks had valued the company at between 14 billion to 15 billion euros, he said. Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government is in the midst of trying to privatize national airline Alitalia and has also said it will sell part of ship builder Fincantieri to the public.

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