Author: Archive

Computerised Posties

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

The UK’s postmen and postwomen are having their rounds assessed – by a computer program called ‘Georoute’.

Georoute is routing software, designed to maximise efficiency of collection and delivery arrangements for postal operators. Royal Mail is using Georoute to help improve efficiency by ensuring that routes are well planned.

There are potential problems however. Some postal workers say that it will be used as a method of timing walks without taking into account varying weather conditions and indeed the working speed of any particular postie, let alone extras like recorded or special delivery items which take extra time. Some even claim that it can be as much as an hour out.

To be fair, Georoute isn’t human. It can only work with the information supplied to it and since it doesn’t actually do deliveries itself, it does lack that all imprtant human factor. One wonders if the expence of introducing it will make sufficient savings to make it worthwhile but clearly its difficult to allocate or change existing postal walks purely on a paper map.

Computers are extraordinarily good at working out complex calculations that would tax even Einstein but to be really accurate, the software needs set figures to work from. Variables can only create ‘averages’ at best. The concern for postal workers is that it will be used to create set time frames in which they are expected to carry out their duties, that doesn’t take into account the variables, and could mean they are not paid fairly.

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Postal Service awards contract to protect employee personnel records

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service is implementing a program to convert all paper personnel folders to electronic folders, which will transform the way employee information is stored, retained and retrieved, ultimately enabling postal employees to have 24-hour access to the content of their personnel folder.

The Postal Service awarded a contract to SOURCECORP BPS, Inc. to convert the files from paper to electronic as part of the Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF) program. SOURCECORP BPS, Inc. has extensive experience scanning and securing banking, medical and government documents.

Paper employee records are currently maintained in many postal facilities throughout the country. Once these records are scanned, employee records will be maintained in a secure central database. The eOPF program supports employee self-service, the Human Resources Shared Service Center and disaster recovery.

The migration from paper to electronic media is one more successful phase of the PostalPEOPLE project. PostalPEOPLE, the largest project of its kind anywhere, involves the replacement of existing outdated Postal Service human resources technology with a fully-integrated system to streamline, standardize and automate HR processes. The project enables the Postal Service to increase efficiency, reduce costs and provide employees with 24/7 access to their personnel files and other HR-related information.

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Libey says rate increases, declining prospecting monster DM trends

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

Rate increases, declining prospecting, talent absorption, the failure of net neutrality, online intensity and new systems.

These were just a few of the monster trends that are about to shake the world of direct marketers, according to direct mail guru Don Libey, who spoke at the Direct Marketing Club of New York’s April luncheon at the Yale Club.
“We have endless silent partner increases ahead,” said Mr. Libey, discussing the first of several monster trends. “If you sell something, print something, publish something, or send something through the mail, you are faced with endless, unsustainable silent partners.”

The silent partners, he said, are the U.S Postal Service, UPS, FedEx and Google.

“Massive postal increases, 13 percent increases for international delivery by UPS, increases by FedEx, fuel surcharges,” he said. “What we have done is abducted our control of our business in direct marketing because we are remote.”

Rate increases are also causing a decline in prospecting, another monster trend, Mr. Libey said.

Another monster tend is talent absorption in the direct marketing industry.

A monster trend Mr. Libey is particularly concerned about is net neutrality. He suggested that special interests, lobbyists and politicians are choosing money over equality for the Internet, and that speed and access will cost direct marketers more than postage does today.

Smaller catalog size is a monster trend too, Mr. Libey said and added that he thought the move to smaller catalogs was concerning.

Mr. Libey said another monster trend is online intensity, and it is only going to get more intense.

“We’ve only seen about 10 percent of the ultimate online share of the market basket,” Mr. Libey said. “Expect a near-doubling of online influence and sales over the next three years. “

He said this trend is dangerous because it is moving people away from the basics, such as offers, lists, and response.

“We are embracing technology at a dangerous rate, and we cannot turn away from it, so we must begin to harness it and understand it,” he said.

Another trend Mr. Libey discussed was that the United States is exporting teaching about how to do direct marketing in China, India, and elsewhere. He suggested that these countries may beat the United States in the future, as their economies grow faster than the United States.

The last monster trend Mr. Libey spoke about was the fact that there is enough knowledge and experience now to create the first fully integrated, fully analytic and working enterprise-wide, multichannel, operating system.

Finally, Mr. Libey said that this is the most exciting time he has even seen in the direct marketing industry.

“It is fraught with challenges,” he said. “It is also separating the players and the also-rans. It embraces new worlds and new channels. It is global. It is expensive. And it is going to be two or three times its size in twenty years. Welcome to the dawning of the new direct marketing.”

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UPS plans air hub in China

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service, the world’s largest package-delivery company, will spend an initial USD20 million to build a new hub in Shanghai to raise air deliveries in China.

The hub, to be located at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, is to start operating in 2008, according to an agreement UPS signed with Shanghai Airport Group on Thursday.

The hub aims to serve a logistics market that grew 14 percent last year, spurring UPS and other overseas companies to add facilities. UPS has invested USD600 million in China in the past five years and now ships to more than 330 cities in the country with 4,500 employees.

”We will continue to make appropriate investment in China to meet our customers’ demand,” said Ken Torok, president of UPS Asia Pacific. ”This new international air hub is a critical milestone in our goal to maximize our air network infrastructure in this country.”

UPS in August opened its first two retail centers in mainland China. The company, based in Atlanta flies Boeing MD-11s and 747s to China and plans to add more 747s. The hub will be serviced by eight 747-400s.

The Chinese logistics market grew to 3.84 trillion yuan, or USD500 billion, last year, according to the Chinese government. The Chinese domestic air cargo market grew 28 percent to 21.3 billion yuan, the planning agency said March 15.

The new hub is designed to handle 17,000 items an hour by 2012, in a 96,000-square-meter, or one-million-square-foot, facility with plans for ”rapid expansion,” UPS said. The hub could employ more than 1,000 people by 2010.

Deutsche Post’s DHL Global Forwarding said Jan. 26 that it had become the first overseas company to offer domestic airfreight forwarding in China. It will initially offer services in 17 cities, a number that may rise to 70 within five years, it said.

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Fortec welcomes Prospect Commercials Ltd to the network

Posted by | Apr 12, 2007 | |

The company covers 85 pct of the Kent postcode area, including Maidstone, Chatham and Dover, with a staff of 25 and a fleet of 20 vans, eight 7.5 tonnes and three 18 tonnes vehicles.

The company has been operating for seven years, and has been a member of the Fortec network for two months.

The company’s original focus was on servicing the TNT operation in Kent, but after a strategic review Prospect Commercials made the decision to join a pallet network and chose the Fortec Pallet network.

Gary Monks, Director, Prospect Commercials commented on the new relationship: “After making the decision to become part of the Network, we had an intensive two weeks in which to get everything prepared, including the introduction of the Fortec systems, which thankfully are extremely user-friendly.

“In the brief two months since becoming a licensee, we have already formed a strong relationship. We can really notice things coming together – everyone at Prospect Commercials can see our company growing and we are very excited by the opportunities which the Fortec network provides.

“For example thanks to the Fortec sales team identifying new leads, we have added nine major new customers to our books in the last two weeks!

“Our experience has been very positive – nothing seems too much effort for the team at Fortec and their USP matches ours; providing a quality, customer orientated service and willing to go the extra mile when necessary. We are particularly interested in the opportunities provided by the Fortec International product which offers a daily departure service into Europe at competitive rates. I am sure this is going to prove very popular with our customers.

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La Poste profits rise 41%

Posted by | Apr 12, 2007 | |

The French postal service La Poste reported a 41.6% net profit increase that saw net profit increase to EUR 789 million in 2006, from EUR 557 million the year before. The increase was attributed to strong express and parcels growth.
La Poste remained optimistic about the future and said it believed operating margins would continue to rise, to 5.8% for 2007. This positive outlook was partly due to reforms to its pension finances which had generated good results.

The company’s international turnover climbed to over EUR 3 billion (15.2% of overall revenues) in 2006. Express revenues rose 15.7% to EUR 2.93 billion with strong growth in assets in Eastern Europe, Germany and the UK making significant contributions.

External investment reached over EUR 500 million was invested externally and resulted in the acquisition of Exapaq, Orsid and Sogéposte (now part of Banque Postale). Total investment by the group thus increased by 70% to a record EUR 1.64 billion, from EUR 958 million in 2005.

Internal investment increased by 29% to EUR 1.136 billion. Work began on 20 hubs across France and 2006 saw the four new mail hubs open for business.
Electronic commerce assisted the reported parcels growth of 7.2% representing EUR 1.24 billion. The number of tracked parcels increased to 75% of the total compared to 60% in 2005. Two-day, on-time delivery reached 91%, 2% up on 2005.
La Poste mail revenues rose by a much smaller margin than those registered the previous year. Revenues in 2006 were up just 0.5%, to EUR 11.3 billion, when compared to a revenue gain of 3.4% in 2005.

Net debt grew 37% to almost EUR 6 billion at the end of 2006, compared to EUR 3.78 billion on 31 December 2005, mainly due to a one-off, EUR 2 billion pension fund payment to the state.

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Nigeria: Towards liberalisation of the postal industry

Posted by | Apr 12, 2007 | |

Immediately Mallam Mori Baba took over the mantle of leadership in NIPOST, report had it that the first thing he did was set up a committee to study and recommend the best way to consolidate the gains recorded in the establishment, within the confines of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) standard as regards the best practice in the postal services globally.

This group swung into action and identified among other things, that for NIPOST to consolidate successfully, functions efficiently and effectively, it must conform with the UPU’s standard; and having closely studied postal outfits in countries, like the United States of America (USA), Britain, Canada, South Africa, Ghana, and Uganda just to mention but few, the group discovered that the postal establishments as the national carriers in these countries, compete with private courier service providers, in the spirit of free market economy.
The study group discovered that as a result of NIPOST not functioning in accordance with UPU’s standard, it has not been able to reap the benefit of operating under a regulatory body or commission.

The committee noted that the dual mandate (operator and regulator roles) of NIPOST has placed a burden on its operation as a player in the industry, as it is saddled with additional responsibilities of acting as a regulatory body, in the process, slowing down its speed of operation and effectiveness.

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