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Royal Mail heading for first national strike in a decade

Posted by | May 12, 2007 | |

Britain is heading for its first national postal strike in more than a decade after pay talks broke down between Royal Mail and its unions.
The Communications Workers Union announced yesterday that a ballot for industrial action would go ahead after it formally rejected a 2.5 per cent pay offer from Royal Mail linked to further efficiency gains. The union fears that Royal Mail is planning up to 40,000 job losses.
The CWU will serve notice of its intention to ballot its 130,000 members in Royal Mail on Tuesday and despatch ballot papers a week later. The result is due to be announced on 7 June. The last national postal strike was in 1996.
Royal Mail executives said the union’s pay claim was “clearly madness and not in our view justified in any way”. The company said that the claim for a 27 per cent increase coupled with a reduction in the working week would cost it GBP 1bn a year at a time when its profits had shrunk to just GBP 22m for the first six months and the UK mail market was declining by 2.3 per cent a year.
Royal Mail also claimed that its staff were paid 35 per cent more than those working for rival postal companies, if pension benefits were taken into account, while productivity within the state-owned organisation was 40 per cent lower than that of its competitors.
The company said it did not believe the pay claim would be supported by customers or taxpayers. “The union must also realise that the consequences of meeting its demands would be hugely negative for Royal Mail’s competitiveness and would result in further large job losses as well as the loss of vital contracts and revenue.”

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USPS Quarter II FY 2007

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Overall, the financial result in Quarter II of 2007 was a net loss of USD 1,078 million compared to net income of USD 846 million for Quarter II of last year. Revenue was down while operating expenses have increased.

Quarter II operating revenue was USD 18,292 million, compared to USD 18,615 million in the corresponding quarter of last year, a decrease of USD 323 million. The decrease was driven by decreased mail volume and revenue for First-Class Mail, Periodicals Mail, Package Services and Priority Mail. Express Mail volume was flat, but revenue increased in Quarter II due to increases in the average weight per piece. International volume was up, but revenue was down. Only Standard Mail showed any real growth, with increases in both volume and revenue.

Mail volume from the Revenue, Pieces and Weight report are preliminary for each quarter and are finalized at the end of each year. There is some slight recasting of 2006 numbers compared to the preliminary results presented at March 31, 2006. The volume decrease reflects a slow down in the economy. Growth in economic activity as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006 averaged 3.3%. Growth slowed to 2.5% in Quarter I and 1.3% Quarter II. This economic slowdown, coupled with the rate increase effects, is the main driver in the decrease in volume for this quarter.

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Shipping Sidekick v2.0 released featuring free Shipping Rate Comparison

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Webplus, Inc., a leading provider of small business solutions, announced today the release of Shipping Sidekick v2.0 (www.shippingsidekick.com). Shipping Sidekick v2.0 features free side-by-side comparison of USPS and DHL shipping rates and transit times as well as those of FedEx and UPS for paid users. Shipping Sidekick v2.0 also features improved navigation as well as numerous other improvements.

Shipping Sidekick saves eBay sellers, small businesses or anyone shipping packages time and money. When sending a package, users simply enter the destination and package information to quickly and easily retrieve the published shipping rate and delivery time of each shipping company allowing the user to choose the shipper with the best price for the delivery time needed. Published rates from UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL are provided on one screen, side-by-side. Each delivery company’s ground, rush or priority, and overnight shipping rates are included. Savings of USD 3-USD 5 per package are common and a free shipping scale is offered with select memberships.

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Deutsche Post performance criticised

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Major institutional investors are accusing German national postal services provider Deutsche Post of poor operating results, poor profit growth and a lack of clarity. Klaus Kaldemorgen, head of German investment fund DWS Investment, which holds a 1.8 per cent stake in the company, fears that Deutsche Post could face being broken up if it does not improve profitability quickly, as the individual divisions of the company could be worth more than the company as a whole.

Mr Kaldemorgen has said that the forecast of only a 3 per cent increase for 2007 indicates the slowness of Deutsche Post’s restructuring and integration of different areas and regions, and doubts that the company will attain its mid-term target of 5.2bn euros in 2009. Michael Gierse, head of German investment fund Union Management, which holds a 1.6 per cent stake in Deutsche Post, has criticised the company for its profit growth not being in line with turnover growth, and for operating margins not only having dropped considerably in 2006 but for falling below the margins attained in 2004 and 2003. This is being attributed to problems in German parcel business and US business, the figures of which are no longer released. Mr Gierse has also queried the annual 500m euros registered for legal, consultancy and auditing fees; a representative for Deutsche Post has said that these figures arise from major takeovers in the past.

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U.S. Postal Service Renews Contract with Convergys

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Convergys Corporation, a global leader in customer care, human resources, and billing services, announces a contract renewal under which it will continue to deliver service to customers of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS has extended the current 4-year agreement with Convergys for two years.

Convergys will continue to manage the entire postal customer contact experience across all channels through live agents, automated speech services, e-mail, and Web support. The Convergys professional services team will also continue to provide consulting and analytics for a customer intelligence program that constantly measures customer satisfaction. The USPS serves over 7 million customers a day at more than 37,000 outlets, and delivers 202 billion pieces of mail a year.

To obtain immediate “voice of the customer” performance feedback, Convergys uses its Point-of-Service Evaluation customer satisfaction feedback system to support decision-making. This real-time analytic approach offers online information giving managers dynamic, actionable data to ensure customer satisfaction levels are maintained and improved.

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