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Royal Mail are on course for a crippling national strike over pay

Posted by | May 5, 2007 | |

Royal Mail are on course for a crippling national strike over pay.

Union leaders are expected to reject a new offer from management next week and press ahead with plans for a ballot.

Last week, a union memo said bosses were offering a one-off sum of GBP 550 in return for agreement on cuts to services worth GBP 350million a year.

Now Royal Mail have backed down and offered a 2.5 per cent rise in pay.

But the Communication Workers Union leadership are set to reject the deal – worth GBP 7.75 a week before tax.

They argue that, with inflation at 4.8 per cent, the offer is a pay cut in real terms.

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New US postage rates take effect May 14

Posted by | May 4, 2007 | |

New postage rates go into effect on Monday, May 14, including a two-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail stamp to 41 cents. Post Offices nationwide are now selling the new 41-cent stamps and also one and two-cent stamps for customers who still have a supply of 39-cent stamps.Customers can also order stamps online at www.usps.com or by telephone at 1-800-STAMP-24. The new stamps are also available at Automated Postal Centers and ATM’s nationwide (beginning May 14). In addition to the new domestic rates, changes will take effect May 14 for customers sending international mail. USPS has simplified its eight main international products into four: Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International and First-Class Mail International. New packaging will allow mailers to use the same Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging for shipping both within the United States and to other countries. For details of the International Mail changes, go to: http://www.usps.com/ratecase and select “New International Rates, Fees and Country Listing.” New rates can be downloaded from http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007/pr07_039.pdf.

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WHSmith and Post Office a perfect match

Posted by | May 4, 2007 | |

The solution to the dire state of the UK’s town centre Post Offices is to fully merge them into WHSmith. The idea of switching 70 Crown Office branches to the high street chain, but leaving 373 to fend for themselves makes no sense.

Without a clearer strategy and better management, the money spent refurbishing these outlets will be wasted.

Transferring 15 outlets to different retail partners makes no sense. It will confuse customers and erode the natural synergies that exist. It is like finding your natural partner in life and then playing away when their back is turned.

When an ugly man marries a plain woman, the result is rarely a beautiful child. That said, WHSmith has been performing better of late. While I am still never quite sure what merchandise mix to expect when I go into a store, there is a sense that it is getting there under chief executive Kate Swann.

Unfortunately, I know exactly what to expect when I go into a high street Post Office. What upsets me most is the huge wasted retail opportunity; bare walls, unkempt ambience and demotivated staff. What most upsets customers are the lengthy, snake-like queues.

Someone once told me that the Post Office is headed by a renowned and capable retailer. They were mistaken. With one of the richest asset bases and strongest brands in the UK, the counters business lost GBP 111 million last year on sales down 14 per cent to GBP 838 million. Management whinge that they would have been profitable had it not been for the cost of carrying the uneconomic part of the rural network.

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SingPost Enters into Joint Venture for Print-on-Demand Business

Posted by | May 4, 2007 | |

Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Singapore Post Enterprise Private Limited, has entered into a joint venture agreement with Global Print on Demand Network International Ltd (GPN International) and Oce Singapore Private Limited (Oce) to engage in the business of Print-on-Demand.

A joint venture company, GPN Asia Pte Ltd, will be incorporated in Singapore, which will print in Singapore and distribute to the region. SingPost will have 20% equity in the joint venture with an initial investment of €200,000 for the subscription of ordinary shares in the capital of GPN Asia Pte Ltd.

Oce and Euradius will hold 20% and 60% stake in GPN Asia Pte Ltd respectively, also through capital injection. GPN International, a subsidiary of the Dutch incorporated company, Euradius International B.V., is largely in the printing business, with specific expertise in the field of Print-on-Demand technology.

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Experian acquires French email marketing services company

Posted by | May 4, 2007 | |

Experian has acquired French email marketing services company Emailing Solution for an undisclosed sum.

Emailing Solution provides email development, delivery and management services, as well as hosting and managing email address databases. The company employs 50 people, of which six are based in Barcelona, and has more than 300 clients including Axa, Orange, Staples and HP.

The acquisition expands Experian Marketing Solutions’ range of services in France beyond address management.

Experian will integrate the company into its own email marketing services business Cheetahmail, which already operates in the UK, US, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Chris Savage, managing director of Experian’s data integrity and digital services business, said: “Emailing Solutions complements CheetahMail’s European presence and will help drive our development in permission-based email marketing in the French market.”

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Austrian Post acquires a 74.9% shareholding in Scherübl Transport GmbH

Posted by | May 4, 2007 | |

Scherübl is an Austrian SME with annual revenues of about EUR 3.5m. The firm has earned an excellent reputation in the industry as a specialist for the temperature-controlled delivery of pharmaceutical products, featuring advanced technical know-how and the highest standards. Almost all prominent pharmaceutical companies are customers of Scherübl. One important service it offers is the cooled transport of pharmaceuticals, i.e. ensuring a continuous cold chain ranging between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, with uninterrupted temperature monitoring and recording throughout the entire delivery process.

Through its acquisition of a majority shareholding of Scherübl, and the takeover of Thermomed by the trans-o-flex Group, Austrian Post is now represented in the specialised pharmaceutical logistics market in Germany, Austria and the Benelux countries, a niche market with high growth potential.

Austrian Post will strengthen the good market position of Scherübl by newly establishing a network consisting of four pharmaceutical distribution centres in Austria featuring the required infrastructure (e.g. temperature-controlled storage, special cooled containers and temperature documentation). The distribution centres will be set up in Regau (Upper Austria), Hall (Tyrol), Kalsdorf (Styria) and in Vienna by the end of this year.

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DHL launches Intracity Express service in Moscow

Posted by | May 3, 2007 | |

DHL has launched a new express delivery service called Intracity Express.

This service is for documents and parcels within the Moscow region which covers door-to-door delivery of parcels and documents within Moscow city and around 90 other locations.

Intracity Express is targeted at companies and individuals and can be used in combination with other services.
DHL plans to expand Intracity Express to other big cities across the country, as the demand for express delivery increases in Russia.

“Moscow is one of the largest and most dynamic cities in the world. Therefore we have to keep pace with the customers’needs for high-quality express-delivery services for documents and parcels,” said Mark Jordan, commercial director of DHL Russia.

Customers using the service could reduce their costs by a third through the selection of optimal delivery dates, he added.

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Fortis, AN Post joint venture to extend to over 1,000 post offices in next 12 months

Posted by | May 3, 2007 | |

Belgo-Dutch bancassurance group Fortis NV said its 50-50 Irish financial services joint venture with AN Post, the Irish Post Office, will extend to over 1,000 post offices in the next twelve months.

Postbank started trading at over 250 post offices on May 1.

Fortis said it will have the largest retail banking network in Ireland by the end of next year.

Postbank offers a broad range of financial products and services to the Irish market, including daily banking, savings products, insurance, mortgages and credit cards.

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