Author: Archive

5000 postal workers wildcat in Glasgow

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Thousands of Glasgow postal workers walked out of delivery offices today in a dramatic escalation of industrial action.

Strike-hit Royal Mail was plunged into deeper chaos after 13 workers who had refused to cross a picket line were sent home and union officials claim up to 5000 colleagues walked out in support of them.

Around 1100 staff at the Glasgow Mail Centre in Springburn were already on official strike today and the wildcat action added to the disruption.

The Communications Workers Union claims a deal was offered to bosses who would have averted the unofficial action but it was rejected

Read More

Latvian Post is most likely to have to raise prices

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Latvian Post(LP) will most probably have to raise the prices of its services, Latvian Transport Minister Ainars Slesers said on Tuesday.

LP will have to take several important decisions concerning the future development of the company. The minister said that he has a development plan to offer tot he company management, but he would like to see the plan developed by LP first. The minister said that he would meet LP management on Wednesday to discuss the action plan that the company will present concerning its further development.

“There are lots of post offices that make loss and will never make profit. The question is if the company has to sustain such branches? If they have to be sustained, the next question is — How?” said the minister, adding that the unprofitable post offices are sustained by the post workers. He admitted that press delivery price problem is the same, as these have not increased lately on the face of increasing costs.

Slesers said that a consideration should be given to the postal services to be subsidized by the government and the ones to be sustained by the company itself.

He said that the privatization of LP is not an issue at the moment. It is not planned and will not be allowed, but as postal liberalization is on the approach in the EU, possibly, decisions will have to be taken to attraction of private partnership to separate postal functions, not the post in general.

Slesers did not want to comment on the necessity of the resignation of Gints Skodovs, the head of LP.

Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis during a government session on Tuesday said that the salaries of the unprofitable offices and postal workers in general is the issue of the company management as the management of the company receives the salaries, which are among the highest in the country and, thus have to solve the crisis situation.

Read More

Chile’s Banco Santander Santiago optimizes cash processes with self-service solutions from Wincor Nixdorf

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Banco Santander Santiago has awarded Wincor Nixdorf yet another contract – this time for 320 automated teller machines with application software. With this order, the installed base of Wincor Nixdorf ATMs at Banco Santander Santiago will rise to more than 1100 machines. The rollout is scheduled to be completed within the next four months. With this project, Wincor Nixdorf makes another contribution to significantly expand its position in Latin America. As to banking business the region is a growth market for Wincor Nixdorf offering great potential. Banks in Latin American are increasingly expanding their ATM networks or replacing old devices with new ones.

It is Banco Santander Santiago’s goal to expand its network of ATMs and to automate –and thus further optimize – the cash processes in its branches. The bank intends to successively reduce the high number of cash transactions that still take place at teller windows. Through the increased implementation of self-service systems, Banco Santander Santiago’s customers will be able to carry out cash transactions in all of the bank’s branches around the clock.

A special feature of this project is that all the ATMs are equipped with contactless card readers. Users of public transportation can load their “transantiago” cards at the bank’s ATMs and use them to pay for subway and bus travel. Currently in Chile there are three types of cards that can be loaded contactlessly to pay for public transportation: non-personalized cards that anyone can load or use, personalized cards that are imprinted with the user’s identity card number, and bank customer cards featuring both a magnetic strip and a chip for contactless loading.

The Chilean financial institution Santander Santiago is among the ten largest banks in Latin America. With 350 branches and 8000 employees, it is the largest bank in Chile. Banco Santander Santiago has an installed base of 1700 ATMs in Chile.

Read More

Pitney Bowes makes money, cuts people

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes reported an increase in revenues for the second quarter of 2007 on Monday while net income, which in the year-ago quarter showed up as a loss due to accounting for discontinued operations, moved into the black.

Because the quarter included an accounting alignment for MapInfo Corp., which Pitney Bowes bought for about USD 408 million in April, the company’s statement reported a variety of earnings, including adjusted and those from continuing operations.

“The natural extension of an address is its physical positioning,” which ties directly into Pitney Bowes’ software products, Martin said when asked by an analyst how MapInfo fits into the company. For the second quarter of 2007, Pitney Bowes reported net income — excluding discontinued operations — of USD 152 million, or 68 cents per diluted share, on revenues of USD 1.5 billion. In the year-ago period, Pitney Bowes reported a loss of USD 356 million, or USD 1.59 per diluted share, on revenues of nearly USD 1.4 billion.

The mid-level estimate by analysts polled by Thomson was 70 cents per share.

About two weeks ago, Pitney Bowes announced plans to lay off approximately 200 internal information technology workers, including approximately 96 in Danbury, 24 in Shelton and 12 in Stamford. The company is in the process of negotiating to move that internal work to Wipro Technologies. The workers would be moved over to Wipro where some would resume working on Pitney Bowes systems while others, after a transition period, might be offered other work within Wipro.According to documents Pitney Bowes supplied affected workers, the company will not pay severance to anyone refusing to make the move.

Read More

Telecoms companies turn away GBP165 million a month by not accepting cash

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Major telecoms companies could be losing over GBP165 million in revenue every month by failing to offer customers the option to pay in cash, reveals new research from the Post Office.

Almost six million UK households use cash or cheques to pay their bills, either through choice or lack of access to banking services. But many major telecoms companies – such as those offering combined broadband internet, telephone and digital TV packages – are excluding these people by limiting payment to direct debit only.

There are 2.8 million1 UK adults (1.9 million households) without a bank account who rely on cash payment methods to pay their bills. A further six million people with bank accounts (four million households) actually prefer to choose cash over direct debit when paying their bills.2 Combined, these people represent 14.6 per cent3 of the UK population.

With an average monthly telecom and entertainment package subscription costing GBP28 per month4, this equates to a potential GBP165.2 million in lost sales per month for businesses who fail to accept cash or cheques.

Post Office marketing director Gary Hockey-Morley said: “Failing to offer a cash payment channel means that businesses are restricting the size of their potential market, with some telecoms companies ignoring customers worth over GBP165 million per month.

“With 14,000 branches across the UK, and 99 per cent of people living within three miles of a branch, the Post Office offers an easy route to bill payment services for people who choose to pay their bills in cash and can also ensure that companies are socially inclusive in offering their services to people without bank accounts.”

Read More

TNT CEO calls for equal treatment of postal services in Germany

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

TNT NV said Deutsche Post should lose its VAT exemption to enable all postal services in Germany to compete on an equal footing, said TNT’s chief executive Peter Bakker.

In an interview with news agency dpa, Bakker also called for full liberalization of postal services in Germany by early 2008, when TNT plans to increase its offering to letters below 50 grams.

The company plans to increase its market penetration to 40 pct of German households during 2008 from the current 20 pct, he added.

The EU last week asked Germany, among other countries, to change its legislation of VAT exemption for mail delivery charges, which is not compatible with an EU VAT directive.

Earlier press reports had suggested the German government was contemplating extending the preferential VAT treatment to Deutsche Post’s competitors.

Read More

Hermes Logistik plans new hub in central Germany

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

Hermes Logistik is to open a major new hub in central Germany, creating up to 150 new jobs. Construction of the EUR 45 million facility will start in October 2007 and it is due to go into service in early 2009.

The 18,000 sqm distribution centre will have capacity to sort 20,000 parcels per hour. Up to 150 employees will work in twice-daily shifts, six days a week at the site.

The hub will be located at Friedewald, Hesse, which lies close to the strategic North-South/East-West junction of the A4, A5 and A7 motorways.

Some EUR 25 million will be invested in the sorting centre handling technology, while acquisition of the 100,000 sqm site and construction of the building will cost a further EUR 20 million. The Hamburg-based property developer ECE will be responsible for planning and constructing the distribution centre.

“Hermes remains on a growth path, and we are therefore expanding our infrastructure appropriately,” said managing director Hanjo Schneider. The company will open its sixth major distribution centre at Hückelhoven in North Rhine-Westphalia in October.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

Have you noticed a decrease of non-EU inbound parcel volumes since the implementation of the new €3 charge?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!


View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest