Author: Archive

Newspaper Circulation Falls 3 pct, Audit Bureau Says

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

The circulation declines of American newspapers continued to accelerate over the spring and summer, as sales across the industry fell almost 3 percent compared with the year before, according to figures released today.

The drop, reported by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, reflects the growing shift of readers to the Internet, where newspaper readership has climbed, and also a strategy by many major papers to shed unprofitable or marginally profitable print circulation.

Among the nation’s largest newspapers, only a handful held their own or registered slight increases in overall paid circulation for the period from April 1 to Sept. 30: USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Houston Chronicle and The St. Petersburg Times. Most papers showed significant declines, both weekday and Sunday.

For the first time, the Audit Bureau released, along with the traditional circulation figures, numbers produced by Scarborough Reports that reflected the total number of readers, both in print and online, for more than 200 newspapers in their home markets. For many of those papers, this marks the first time that such an independent analysis has been done, providing a benchmark for future reports.

Newspaper industry executives said they hoped that the new set of numbers would put a more positive cast on newspapers’ prospects than the routinely gloomy paid circulation reports have done.

An analysis of 88 major papers showed that in the last two years, about half of them had seen no change in readership or had registered an increase, said Bob Cohen, president and chief executive officer of Scarborough.

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TNT and Russian Post sign Memorandum of Understanding

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

TNT CEO Peter Bakker, together with Acting Director General Andrej Konoval of Russian Post, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Mr. Bakker was accompanying the Dutch trade mission to Russia led by Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende.

TNT and Russian Post will look for areas in which they can work together in the future. They will also set up a programme to facilitate the exchange of knowledge.

TNT has been active in Russia in the area of International Express since the late eighties and presently serves 5,500 towns and cities. Russia is one of the fastest growing markets for TNT.

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Singapore Post has announced its financial results for the second quarter and half year ended 30 September 2007 reporting growth in profit and revenues.

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

The Group posted an 8.8pct growth in revenue from SGD106.6 million to SGD116.0 million in Q2 FY 2007/08, on the back of improved performances by the three business segments.

– Mail revenue grew 8.5pct from SGD82.2 million to SGD89.2 million, boosted by higher postings and price adjustments. Total mail volume rose by 9.9pct, underpinned by a 15.1pct growth in the direct mail segment. During the quarter, a new service, DMrocket, was launched to further grow the direct mail business. DMrocket is a specialist direct mail centre that offers one-stop direct mail solutions to meet customers’ needs.
– Logistics revenue rose 11.5pct from SGD15.8 million to SGD17.6 million, as a result of
increased contributions from Speedpost and warehousing, fulfillment and distribution.
– A new concept store within post offices, Speedpost Centre, was launched in the second
quarter, to offer complete delivery solutions to both corporate and retail customers.
– Retail revenue increased 9.0pct from SGD14.0 million to SGD15.3 million, as growth in financial services and vPOST on-line shopping transactions offset the decline in agency services. vPOST Asia was further rolled out into the region, with the service being offered in India and Australia, in addition to Thailand and Malaysia

1 Singapore Dollar (SGD) = 0.69003 US Dollar (USD)

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Provisional results of the survey on working conditions in the licensed letter service

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

The Federal Network Agency has evaluated the data collected so far in its
survey of licence holders on basic working conditions in the licensed letter
service and passed them on to the Advisory Council.

“These are provisional results with no real surprises”, Agency President,
Matthias Kurth, said. They show no significant deviation from the findings of
the study on working conditions in the letters market published last May by the
Bad Honnef consultancy WIK. Confirmed in particular was a clear gap in wage
levels, both between the old and the new federal states and between individual
groups of postal staff.

The evaluation currently shows the weighted average hourly wage for staff
employed by operators competing with Deutsche Post AG, depending on the
region, to vary from around six to 10 euros (national average EUR 8.30). The hourly
rates for letter delivery staff are also in this range. However, the national
average is lower at EUR 7.33.

In June 2007 the Agency sent out a questionnaire to some 1,500 licence holders
to collect data for an empirical study of wage levels, weekly working hours and
holiday entitlements. Despite initial legal problems regarding the scope of the
survey, 1,321 completed questionnaires have been received to date, a return rate
of around 87 percent. These companies, in turn, represent about 85 percent of
the postal staff employed by the competitors.

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Post Office Ltd announces plans for sites in North West England

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

Post Office Ltd opened a six-week local public consultation on its Area Plan for Merseyside, Wirral, Cheshire, Wigan, Leigh and Makerfield with the criteria and factors set by the Government in its Response Document (DTI The Post Office Network, Government response to public consultation May 2007 – www.dti.gov.uk/consultations/page36024.html). The Area Plan proposes future provision of Post Office services through a network of 371 branches across the area including six outreach service points while 65 existing branches would close (see full list below).

Under the proposals, more than 99 pct of the area’s population will either see no change, or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

The six outreach services would use innovative ways to continue to provide Post Office services- particularly in smaller communities – where the existing branch is proposed for closure.

Possible types of outreach service in the Merseyside, Wirral, Cheshire, Wigan, Leigh and Makerfield area could include a mobile service visiting small communities at set times, a hosted service operated within a third party premises for restricted hours each week, or a partner service within the premises of a local partner such as a pub landlord.

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Royal Mail prepares for Christmas

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is gearing up for its busiest time of the year, handling an anticipated over 2 billion letters and cards during the festive period.

Royal Mail predicts Monday 17 December to be its busiest day of the year. 123 million items are expected to enter the system that day compared to an average daily figure of 83 million.

The last recommended posting dates for UK mail are Thursday 20 December for 1st Class and Monday 17 December for 2nd Class items. For Special Delivery items, the last recommended posting date is 22 December. For airmail items to Western Europe, the last recommended posting date is 13 December; for Eastern Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan it is 10 December; and the rest of the world is 7 December.

Royal Mail is releasing millions of new stamps well in time for all last posting dates. Available from today (6th November) in 1st Class, 2nd Class, 78p and GBP 1.24 values, the stamps depict angels and the Madonna & Child. The angels 1st and 2nd Class Christmas stamps are available in two sizes so that people can use the angelic images on Large Letters, parcels and packets this Christmas.

Julietta Edgar, Head of Special Stamps, Royal Mail, said: “Christmas is most certainly Royal Mail’s busiest time of year, but luckily we have plenty of experience in dealing with the postbag upsurge.

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India: Courier industry concerned over weight

Posted by | Nov 6, 2007 | |

After the communications ministry drew from examples across the world for drafting the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, the express/courier industry is now using the same global path to convince the government that `monopoly’ is a bad word.

The international examples are being cited mainly to illustrate the weight-and-rate criteria in the express/courier industry. It is learnt that the express industry representatives in a meeting with Ajay Shankar, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), on Monday, cited global examples to make their point that some of the provisions in the Indian Post Office amendment draft bill are `retrograde’ in nature.

The industry is expected to make representations to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Planning Commission and the communications ministry, among others. Among the provisions to which the express industry is objecting include lowering of FDI to 49 per cent and exclusivity of the Indian Post to carry shipments below 150 gram.

The express industry could be allowed to carry shipment below 150 gm only if they charge a multiple of 2.5 times the speed-post tariff.

Currently, 100 per cent foreign investment is allowed in the sector and if FDI is lowered, India could lose out on its competitive advantage in the supply chain industry and global express distribution system, industry representatives are believed to have pointed out.

The industry is also opposed to the provision on regulating express operators and yearly renewal of registration.

The express operators have argued that among the countries where price multiple model is in place, the express industry is mostly out of the ambit of any monopoly. In New Zealand, UK, Estonia, Sweden, and Malaysia, for instance, there’s no monopoly of the government in the postal sector.

Sources in the government had earlier pointed out that the weight-and-rate criterion is prevalent in other parts of the world as well.

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