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Online healthcare retailer signs USD 47 million agreement with DHL USA

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

DHL announced it has signed a 3-year, USD 47 million agreement with Dr. Leonard’s Healthcare, an online retailer of healthcare equipment, apparel and products. DHL will now be the exclusive business-to-residential ground carrier for distribution of all Dr. Leonard’s products, including apparel and footwear, support & mobility products, exercise equipment, and personal and dental care products.

Dr. Leonard’s chose DHL to affect quicker deliveries and improve service levels for its nationwide consumers. “The DHL service improved our shipment transit times and visibility and provided us with a dedicated customer service support team – at a better value than our previous provider’s solution,” stated Gary Porto, vice president of operations for Dr. Leonard’s Healthcare.

Dr. Leonard’s selected DHL@home, a service for businesses that ship high volumes to residential destinations. DHL has set up a direct induction of Dr. Leonard’s shipments at five DHL U.S. regional sort hubs where they are sorted, processed, and delivered to the closest DHL service center, with the U.S. Postal Service providing the final mile delivery.

DHL is now handling 15,000 1 to 70-pound pieces per day for Dr. Leonard’s for delivery to consumers within the 48 contiguous states. “From DHL’s automation and billing solution, to the operational aspects involved, we couldn’t imagine a smoother transition to an express parcel carrier,” said Porto. “We look forward to leveraging DHL’s expansive network and personalized support to help us improve and enhance delivery services to our valued customers.”

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UPS 3rd quarter earnings

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

UPS today reported a 9.4 pct increase in adjusted diluted earnings per share for its third quarter on a 4.7 pct gain in revenue. The company saw significant improvement in the supply chain and freight segment and good gains in its international business. Its U.S. small package operation posted modest improvement in spite of a sluggish economy.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2007, adjusted diluted earnings per share climbed to USD 1.05 as consolidated package volume rose to an average daily total of 15.25 million.
The adjusted financial results exclude a USD 46 million restructuring charge and related expenses for a supply chain business in France. Including the impact of this charge, diluted earnings per share increased 6.3 pct to USD 1.02 compared to USD 0.96 per diluted share in the same period in 2006.
“This was a very good quarter for the company from many perspectives,” said Mike Eskew, UPS’s chairman and CEO. “First, UPS turned in a solid performance in the face of a slower U.S. economy. We reached tentative agreement with the Teamsters on a new contract almost a year early. And we unveiled industry-leading service and technology innovations.”
Adjusted operating profit improved 11.3 pct with gains in all three business segments. Consolidated revenue per piece increased 3.1 pct.
“Once again, UPS’s balanced network around the globe produced solid results even in the face of a lackluster U.S. economy,” said Scott Davis, UPS’s vice chairman and CFO. “Fourth quarter results will be driven by good performance in our international operations and further gains in supply chain and freight. We expect slowing retail sales will restrain U.S. domestic volume growth. For the full year, we expect adjusted diluted earnings per share to be between USD 4.13 and USD 4.19, well within the range we provided at the beginning of 2007.”

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Temporary, alternative post offices open for evacuated areas

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service has been unable to deliver mail to hundreds of thousands of homes because of the wildfires burning across Southern California, postal officials said.
Fire, wind and smoke halted mail service to many neighborhoods abandoned across Southern California because of mandatory evacuations ordered by fire officials.

Postal Service spokesman Richard Maher said 25 post offices were closed Tuesday, mostly in San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

He said deliveries to 478,096 homes and businesses throughout Southern California could not be made. One post office in Green Valley Lake, near Lake Arrowhead, burned down.

Maher said postal officials were setting up alternative post offices where evacuees could pick up their mail.

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Postcomm publishes revised proposals on Royal Mail's redirections service

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has published its proposals on Royal Mail’s redirections service.

In the fully competitive market, where rivals of Royal Mail are also able to offer their own collection and delivery services, redirection arrangements need to be broadened to allow those rivals to redirect mail. Postcomm has consulted on how this could be achieved within the constraints of data protection rules.

Some of the recommendations Postcomm is making are:

– Royal Mail be required to share the redirections data with other licensed operators who wish to provide a redirections service;
– Once an operator chooses to access redirections data, it must provide a redirections service for its area of operations;
– Royal Mail share the data with other licensed operators from its business diversion service (which Postcomm considers is essentially a subset of the redirections service);
– Other operators wishing to provide a redirections service should be allowed to update their senders with the new address of their customers where the appropriate consent has been given; and
– All licensed operators will be able to not redirect mail if they have explicit instructions to that effect from the sender.

Every year, around 1.3 million households and businesses use Royal Mail’s redirections service, and there are approximately 800,000 redirections “live” on the company’s books at any one time.

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Consultations start in Scotland on changes to Post Office network

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

Post Office Ltd today opened the first local public consultations in Scotland on changes to the Post Office network needed to meet UK Government requirements. Proposals for the future provision of Post Office services in Greater Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll & Bute have been published today and will remain open for consultation for six weeks until 3 December 2007.

Under the Area Plan Proposals published today, 99.9 pct of the population will either see no change to their nearest branch, or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

Post Office Ltd is seeking views on the proposed future service provision in Greater Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll & Bute, including, in particular, views on access to Post Office services, the accessibility of alternative branches to those proposed for closure and the appropriate form of rural outreach service to be provided.

In addition to the 264 Post Office branches which are proposed to remain open in Greater Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll & Bute, three branches in rural Stirlingshire will be replaced with a form of outreach services. The plan also proposes a reduction of 44 branches from the present number of 308.

The plan includes proposed outreach services in three communities in rural Stirlingshire – Buchlyvie, Thornhill and Gargunnock.

Possible types of outreach service could include a mobile service visiting small communities at set times, a hosted service operated within third party premises for restricted hours each week, or a partner service within the premises of a local partner (such as a shop).

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Post Office (UK) earmarks 44 closures

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

The Post Office wants to reduce the number of branches in Argyll and Bute by seven, Greater Glasgow by 27 and Central Scotland by 10.

There will be a six-week consultation period to give communities a chance to air their views on the closures.

Plans for post office provision for other parts of Scotland will be announced next year.

The closure list for the Highlands is expected in January, the list for the Western and Northern Isles in March, and for the north-east, Tayside and Fife in April. Other areas will be announced in June and July next year.

The consultation on the future of the first earmarked post offices will remain open for six weeks until 3 December.

The plans are part of a wider restructuring of post office services throughout the UK.

Post office workers told the BBC Scotland news website that they were being prevented from talking to the media about the closures.

Some also revealed that they had yet to receive any official notification of the proposals and only learned their jobs might be under threat when leaflets about the closures were delivered to branches at the weekend.

The first closures are expected to take place in February 2008 with all changes expected to be completed by the end of that year.

There are 308 post office branches in Greater Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll & Bute.

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USPS aims to leave yesterday’s image behind

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

The United States Postal Service is introducing “Today’s Mail,” which highlights improvements in services and technology.

The campaign, getting under way this week, offers the theme “Today’s Mail” as a way to refer to the post office. The phrase, accompanied by the Postal Service’s familiar stylized eagle logo, appears as the closing signature in print, online and direct-mail advertisements in place of the words “United States Postal Service.”

The campaign is being produced by Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, which has been the lead creative agency for the Postal Service since July 2002. The Postal Service spends USPS 30 million to USPS 35 million each year on advertising.

Although the campaign refers to the Postal Service as “Today’s Mail,” the Postal Service is not changing its official name, which it adopted in 1971.

Executives at the Postal Service and Campbell-Ewald describe the theme as an invitation to consider the post office in a new light, reflecting improvements in service and technology, like the Postal Service Web site (usps.com).

Experts in brand and corporate identity offered generally positive comments about “Today’s Mail,” with some notable caveats.

Ads for the Christmas season, which carry headlines like “Today’s Holidays Need Today’s Mail,” are also focused on specific services like automated postal centers and free “eco-friendly” packaging in which to mail gifts.

The campaign is the first time in about a decade that the Postal Service has used a theme in its ads.

In addition to print and online ads, the Postal Service will announce the new theme in postcards that it will send to 146 million addresses.

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Three new Posts sign up as members of Triangle’s Global Post Office Retail Benchmarking Group

Posted by | Oct 23, 2007 | |

Triangle are pleased to announce and welcome three new Post Office networks as members of the Post Office Retail Benchmarking Group. Poste Italiane, HayPost and Saudi Post have all recently joined and will be attending the next Benchmarking meeting to be held at PosTech in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 13th November 2007.

Alberto Buttaroni, Head of Operations and Customer Care at Poste Italiane commented: “To join the Global Post Office Retail Benchmarking Group is a way to step into wider relations with foreign Postal Operators, with a particular focus on product development. We are pleased to create a link between different postal organizations because we believe this can be an opportunity to find out more about different countries and improve our know-how. In this way we believe we can learn more about each others companies by comparing particular solutions to the same issue.”

The main objectives for the group is to create a cooperative environment to share information to develop “best in class”, compare KPI’s against each other, conduct best practice studies of important business processes and be kept updated on global developments within the Post Office industry.

The group now has 10 Post Office networks as members and include An Post, Emirates Post, Egypt Post, Jersey Post, HayPost, Lebanon Post, Poste Italiane, UK Post Office, Saudi Post and South African Post Office.

If you are interested in joining the group and would like to be considered for membership, please email Triangle’s Benchmarking Coordinator Marcin at [email protected].

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