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Post Offices hit by Royal Mail strike

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

A strike by Royal Mail workers led to the closure of 25 larger post offices across the country today.

The company said most of its network of crown offices opened despite the walkout by members of the Communication Workers Union in a row over transferring services from post offices to WH Smith stores.

A Post Office spokesman said: “The overwhelming majority of branches were serving customers today. We’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused by the CWU strike action which meant we were not able to open a small number of offices.”

Half the counter staff turned up for work, and together with management volunteers managed to keep open all but 25 of the 458 crown branches, said a spokesman.

Hundreds of union members were on strike until midday in protest at plans to close 85 crown branches and move services to the High Street retailer.

The union regards the move as privatisation and warned 1,500 jobs will be axed and workers who remain will suffer pay and pension cuts worth thousands of pounds.

The union’s national officer, Andy Furey, said: “Members have been left with no alternative but to take strike action as management is steam-rolling ahead with closures of crown post offices across the UK.”

The union warned there will be further industrial action unless the post office returns to negotiations with an improved offer on pay and job security.

The Royal Mail said its crown network, which includes the largest branches in high streets and shopping centres was losing around GBP 70 million a year on its operations, which was unsustainable long-term.

Meanwhile, postal workers were clearing the backlog of mail caused by last Friday’s 24-hour strike in a separate row over pay and jobs.

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Localized customer specific strategies provide competitive edge for retailers

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

For retailers, there’s nothing more important today than precisely understanding local markets. Trying to serve the average consumer is a quick ticket to commoditization and earnings pressure for retailers.

Sure, companies can still be profitable using the old retail model. But in today’s marketplace, the road to increased market share, higher profit margins and stronger customer loyalty begins with a localized, consumer-centric strategy.

For some retailers this means a fundamental transformation in the way they approach their business. To succeed, companies must make informed, data-driven decisions by positioning the customer in the center of their universe.

Take this example: two stores are virtually identical. Both are 30,000 square feet, do about USD 6 million in volume a year and have about 3,800 customers a week. The surrounding population for both has a median household income of USD 80,000 and median age of 40.

The customers for both stores probably view the same ads and experience the same merchandise and store presentations. Yet, both stores may be sub-optimizing their performance.

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Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Kroger triumph in Top 100 retailers list

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

Retail giant Wal-Mart, home-improvement chain Home Depot and grocery chain Kroger have topped the list of Stores Magazine Top 100 Retailers ranking.

The annual report, conducted by Stores, the monthly magazine of the National Retail Federation, ranks companies in all segments by revenue.

Bentonville, AR-based Wal-Mart again ranked No. 1 with 2006 revenues of USD 348.65 billion, an 11.7 percent increase over the previous year. Wal-Mart’s revenues were greater than those of the next five largest US retailers combined.

Home Depot and Kroger retained their second and third spots, respectively. Despite a troubled year, which saw the departure of CEO Robert Nardelli, Home Depot gained 11.4 percent in total revenues in 2006. Kroger’s 2006 sales rose 9.2 percent over 2005 to USD 66.11 billion.

Costco came in at No. 4, up from last year’s fifth place, thanks to increasing its private-label offerings with a new line of food conceptualized by Martha Stewart. Costco’s revenues increased 13.6 percent in 2006 to USD 60.15 billion.

Mass merchants Target and Sears came in fifth and sixth. Target advanced a spot in the ranking with a revenue increase of 13.1 percent to USD 59.49 billion. Sears dropped two spots despite a 7.9 percent revenue increase to USD 53.01 billion.

Drug stores are also represented in the top 10. Walgreens rose one spot to No. 7 after aggressively adding freestanding store locations and focusing on front-end merchandise. CVS, which took ninth place and is a new entry to the top-10 list, acquired Caremark Rx in an attempt to upgrade pharmacy services.

Other companies in the top 10 include Lowe’s, which dropped one spot to No. 8, and Safeway, which retained its spot at No. 10.

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DataPost Signs Joint Venture Agreement with Thai British Security Printing PublicCompany Limited

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) announced that its subsidiary, DataPost Pte Ltd (DataPost) has signed a joint venture agreement with Thai British Security Printing Public Company Limited (“TBSP”), a subsidiary of SCG PAPER PLC, to set up a joint venture company (JVC), Thai British DPost Company Limited.

The new company will provide laser printing and enveloping statements, bills and invoices and related value-added services.

The JVC will be located in Bangkok, Thailand.

DataPost and TBSP will hold 49 per cent and 51 per cent stakes in the JVC respectively.

DataPost is a major player in laser printing and enveloping service provider in the ASEAN region. Besides Singapore and Thailand, it also has presence in Malaysia (eP2M
Services Sdn. Bhd.) and the Philippines (ePDS, Inc.).

Earlier this year, DataPost has set up a subsidiary DataPost (HK) Pte Limited to provide one-stop services ranging from electronic data printing to enveloping and posting in Hong Kong.

TBSP is the major player in security printing in Thailand. TBSP’s principal activity is the manufacture of security documents such as bank cheques, business forms and plastic cards.

The new setup which is part of DataPost’s regional plans, will enable it to serve its regional customers in Thailand.

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DHL & Home Retail Group win European Retail Solutions Award

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

DHL Exel Supply Chain and Home Retail Group (Argos/Homebase) have been awarded the Project Implementation of the Year title at the European Retail Solutions Awards 2007 in a joint submission for the implementation of Manhattan Associates’ PkMS (Pick Ticket Management System) Warehouse Management Solution.

The implementation at the Argos Direct site in Marsh Leys, Bedfordshire, was the second phase of a long term collaborative project between Home Retail Group and DHL. The purpose of the project was to replace the older paper based warehouse management system for ’two man’ deliveries, with a modern radio frequency one.

The warehouse at Marsh Leys, Bedford, is a 670,000 sq ft facility that can hold the equivalent of 70,000 UK pallets of stock. Every day, DHL make around 6,000 deliveries of large items such as beds, white goods, upholstery, furniture, TVs and gym equipment from this site.

Changing to the Manhattan Associates solution has increased the accuracy of stock management through the ‘two man’ delivery supply chain from receipt of supplier stock to the point of delivery (and of subsequent returns) and has significantly improved productivity.

The implementation was planned over an eight-month preparation period and two-months of phased transition. Transition problems would have impacted customers and incurred significant expense so an approach was devised that would allow the two systems to run parallel.

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Royal Mail in negotiations with postal union leaders for guaranteed deliveries of Harry Poter

Posted by | Jul 1, 2007 | |

Royal Mail in negotiations with postal union leaders to appeal to them not to disrupt deliveries of J.K. Rowling’s latest novel.

Royal Mail chiefs are using Harry in negotiations with postal union leaders to appeal to them not to disrupt deliveries of J.K. Rowling’s latest novel.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the seventh and last in the series, is due to be published on July 20 and Royal Mail has promised next-day delivery to thousands of retailers across the country.

But with postal workers threatening a series of walkouts in a dispute over pay, bosses have asked the Communication Workers Union to ensure that millions of children are not disappointed.

In a letter seen by The Mail on Sunday, Royal Mail human resources director Kevin Green has pleaded with CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward to abandon any plans for industrial action in the week of the book launch.

Mr Green’s letter says: “J.K. Rowling’s book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is due to be released on Friday, July 20, for delivery on July 21, and we will be providing a next-day delivery service for many major book retailers.

Royal Mail has not heard back from the union. But when asked if the CWU would give an assurance that it would not strike on a certain day, a union spokesman replied: “No.”

Royal Mail is also concerned about the launch of millions of Harry Potter stamps on July 17.

On last Friday the union’s 180,000 workers were called out, bringing chaos to the postal service.

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Deutsche Post: Nationwide PR campaign

Posted by | Jul 1, 2007 | |

This recognition for its mailmen supports Deutsche Post in its plans to launch its latest initiative. As a way of acknowledging the sterling work done by its delivery staff, the company will be launching a campaign on July 2, 2007 under the slogan “Vote for your mailman”.

This will give every member of the German public the opportunity to help find the “1,000 mailmen of the year”. The mailshot containing the voting card is being sent out to all households in Germany in the coming days.

Anyone happy with the service provided by their mailman can give him their vote. Voting is also possible in Deutsche Post retail outlets and on the Internet at www.ihr-postbote.de.

And if they choose people can also give the reasons for their vote. Everyone taking part will be entered in a prize draw. Prizes include 50 Smart fortwo cars, 200 TomTom navigation systems, 100 bicycles and 1,000 mailbags. Entries must be received by August 31, 2007. The mailmen receiving the most votes will be invited to a grand prizegiving event in Berlin in October.

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'Nine out of ten Germans feel they can trust Deutsche Post delivery staff.'

Posted by | Jul 1, 2007 | |

87 percent of Germans trust Deutsche Post mailmen completely. This is one of the findings of a survey recently carried out by research firm Forsa.

And there was virtually no difference in the views expressed by teenagers and pensioners – consumers in all age groups respect the profession of mailman as one that personifies reliability and trust.

During the survey research company Forsa interviewed a total of 1,000 people in Germany aged 14 and older. The survey found that irrespective of the profession, age, education level and gender of the people taking part in the survey, the 80,000 mailmen employed by Deutsche Post were given extremely high trust ratings by well over 80 percent of those questioned.

The results clearly show that Deutsche Post mailmen enjoy a high level of acceptance among the public and are seen as reliable. Something that not every profession in German would be able to claim – comparable surveys conducted by Reader’s Digest, for example, have shown even that the approval ratings for judges or priests is nowhere near this level.

Another interesting finding of the survey is that even with today’s email, fax and mobile phones, there are hardly any Germans who never send mail. Only four percent of those surveyed claimed this. The letter as a means of communication continues to play a major part in the daily lives of people of all age groups – as does the mailman who brings those letters to our door.

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