Author: Archive

Postal workers to vote on pay deal

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

Postal workers will start voting later this week on whether to accept a deal aimed at ending their long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.

The Communication Workers Union said it will send ballot papers to its 130,000 members from Friday.

The ballot closes on November 27 and the result will be announced soon afterwards.

Postal workers have been involved in a series of strikes and other forms of industrial action since the summer which crippled mail deliveries.

A deal aimed at resolving the row was agreed between the union and Royal Mail.

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New Managing Director for Royal Mail Letters Business

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

Mark Higson, formerly Divisional CEO and Group Operations Director with BPB plc, has been appointed Managing Director of Royal Mail’s letters business.

Reporting to the Royal Mail Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, Mr Higson will head the senior management team responsible for the collection, sorting and delivery of more than 80 million letters daily by almost 170,000 postmen and women, and frontline managers. He takes up the role last Monday, November 5.

Mr Higson’s ten-year career with BPB, the plasterboard and plaster buildings materials company, with annual sales of GBP 2.5 billion, has included Board level responsibility for operational performance and strategy implementation.

Mr Crozier said: “I’m delighted Mark is joining Royal Mail. He’s bringing with him a highly impressive track record at BPB where he played a key leadership role in boosting the focus on customers and achieving world-class operational capability that, together, helped deliver sustained profit growth. Mark joins Royal Mail as the business steps up its drive to transform its operations to achieve the modernisation essential to enabling the company to compete successfully in the tough, open communications market. I’m looking forward to working with him in this crucial phase of Royal Mail’s development.”

Mr Higson said: “I’m hugely excited at joining Royal Mail at this crucial time as it modernises its operations to improve efficiency while delivering world-class, high quality, value-for-money service to all its customers.”

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Marshall Islands: Return to Domestic Mail Services a

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

The United States Postal Service’s restoration of domestic mail designation is a “great victory in many ways” for the people and businesses of the Freely Associated States (FAS), according to Marshall Islands Chamber of Commerce President Jack Niedenthal.
In September 2005, the United States Postal Service announced the change from domestic to international designation for the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia, Within six months of implementation, the private sector, which relies heavily on letter and package service from the United States, reported that the loss of domestic services was causing severe hardship and confusion.

The Chamber of Commerce, in addition to the RMI Government, wrote letters to U.S. officials asking them to reconsider the continuation of this policy. Last Wednesday, the USPS announced reversal of its policy, and the return to domestic mail treatment on November 19.

It also represents progress in the broader arena of the relationship between the US and the FAS in that we now know that the Compact is not cast in stone; it is a living document that can be changed if both parties see the need to do something different.”

During last July’s hearing before a U.S. House subcommittee, RMI Foreign Minister Gerald Zackios said that the current Postal Services Agreement was not consistent with the “mutual desire to promote private sector development.”

In August, representatives from USPS informed postmasters and post office managers attending a two-day workshop in Palau, of the plan to revive the zip code and domestic rate services in Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of the Marshall Islands.

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Bar codes boost Jamaica's mail tracking

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

The term ‘high-tech’ is usually associated with some element of computer use, so it’s not surprising that the new bar-coded labels being introduced by the Jamaican postal administration for tracking registered mail utilise a digital format for data to be captured by a computerised scanner.

“Incorporating technology, that’s the only way forward,” says Postmaster General/CEO, Michael Gentles. He outlined that this development was born out of ongoing negotiations between the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and all member countries for the creation of a single data-recording format to be used internationally for tracking specific mail items.

Gentles said, “We will be implementing this bar-coded label format for registered letters as an element in advancing the pace of postal service modernisation. This computerised method presents significant advantages for reducing processing time and errors from manual data input, and will boost efficiency in this aspect of our service.”

The bar code begins with the letters ‘RR’ followed by nine digits and end with the letters ‘JM’. Tracking for parcels being sent overseas has been benefiting from this bar-coded label arrangement since 2002. At this time, in concert with many other postal administrations globally, Jamaica has now added the bar-code tracking system to registered mail. This major modernisation project for registered items will, however, initially begin with the bar-coded labels being utilised only for registered mail being sent overseas.

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109-yr-old Philpost bent on staying relevant in Internet age

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

Aside from a P6-billion modernization project to increase efficiency, the Philippine Postal Corporation is mounting efforts to curb theft and restore the public’s trust in their services.

Philpost, which celebrated its 109th anniversary Monday, is bent on remaining relevant despite the emergence of Internet and text messaging, said postmaster general Hector Villanueva.

The P6-billion computerization with the help of Japanese investors, he stressed, will make Philpost competitive once more in the delivery service in a year’s time.

“This will bring the Post Office to the 21st century. We will more than double our revenue, and be able to trace every letter. With our Internet capability we will be able to compete with money order, both international and domestic,” he said, adding that modernization is expected to bring billions more to their yearly USD 3 billion income.

Even without computers, Villanueva said OFW relatives will get their money’s worth since the Philpost only charges USD 3-USD 4 for USD 500 remittances against USD 57 from private companies. To attract more OFWs, Philpost will launch its “International Money Order” on Nov. 12 to service their needs.

Relatives of OFWs in Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand and United Arab Emirates will benefit from the IMO since they will only need an ATM account to send or retrieve money.

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Post Office COO moves on

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

The Post Office director of operations Ric Francis is leaving the organisation to embark on a career in independent consultancy.

A Post Office spokesman confirmed Francis is leaving but could not confirm his leaving date or who his replacement will be.

He said: “Ric Francis has decided to leave the Post Office after two and a half years in the business. During that time Ric has made a great contribution to the development of the Post Office and we will be sorry to see him go. We wish him every success for the future.”

It is believed Francis will wait until the next financial year, in spring 2008, to depart, although no specific date has been finalised.

Francis joined the Post Office in 2005 from Safeway, where he was CIO until it merged with Morrisons. In the intervening period he also started his own company, Virtual Email – a hosted messaging service, which merged with SaaS-specialist Nasstar in 2006.

When Francis arrived at the Post Office he instigated a five-year strategic plan to revamp the stores in 2006.

As to why he is leaving in the middle of this plan, Francis said: “We are already into our second year of the plan and the operational requirements are already embedded, it doesn’t need me to see it through.”

Francis told silicon.com his next move will be revisiting some of the plans he had developed in setting up his own consultancy business before he joined the Post Office.

He said: “It will be about playing in the venture capital space. It will be about how I can bring a wealth of operations experience to entrepreneurs who want to operationalise their businesses and significantly improve their value to the market. I also plan to support spheres of development for the next IT leaders of the future.”

Francis’ previous roles include CIO and member of the executive board at TI Group/Smiths Group, international CIO at PepsiCo in New York and business systems director at Mars.

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China Everbright Bank and Western Union sign agreement to offer money transfer in China

Posted by | Nov 5, 2007 | |

China Everbright Bank and The Western Union Company announced an agreement to offer money-transfer services at more than 300 China Everbright Bank branches in more than 30 cities in China. The service will be rolled out in the next few months.

Western Union’s representation agreement with China Everbright Bank will help extend Western Union’s global network of money-transfer services into cities throughout China, complementing the existing network and offering its customers even greater convenience.

China remains an attractive market for Western Union. According to the World Bank, China receives USD 22.5 billion in annual remittances, making it the third-largest remittance recipient country.

“Increasing numbers of Chinese people are moving to other parts of the world to study or work,” said Andrew Ong, regional vice president for Western Union, North Asia.

“Western Union’s Money Transfer service is trusted by customers to quickly and reliably receive money from, or send money to, family members or friends back home. Together with China Everbright Bank, the network is expanding into more economically developed cities. Both companies are able to increase choice and convenience for our customers, wherever they might live,” he added.

Zhang Yukuan, general manager of retail business at China Everbright Bank, added, “With our operating philosophy of ‘A Premier Bank with Diligent Financial Management’ in mind, we are committed to exceeding our clients’ demands and offering consistent, high-quality financial services. Our clients span over 36 major cities in 23 provinces. Launching money transfer services means we can provide our customers with premium-quality money transfers to and from more than 200 countries and territories.”

Western Union has had a presence in China since 1994 and currently has 25,000 locations through its cooperating partners China Postal Savings Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

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