Author: Archive

Hydro One Networks launches paperless eBilling delivery service with epostTM

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

Hydro One Networks customers now have the option of receiving their electricity bills via the web. Canada Post has joined forces with Hydro One Networks to offer these bills online through epost, Canada Post’s online mail delivery service. Customers will be able to sign up to receive their Hydro One Networks bills electronically through the free epost service at either www.epost.ca or at the online banking sites of major Canadian financial institutions.
Hydro One Networks business, commercial and residential customers who sign up for a free epost box™ (a personal electronic mailbox) will be able to subscribe to these bills and view them in a safe, secure manner online. Once the client has viewed their bills, he or she can then pay them by linking to the online banking sites of most major financial institutions. The bills can be stored in the epost system for up to seven years.

Hydro One Networks joins many other Mailers in Ontario offering the epost service. In addition to their electricity bills, Hydro One Networks customers who register with epost can receive and pay more than 200 other documents from 100 companies (called Mailers) available to epost’s three and a half million registered users.

Read More

Free drops La Poste, picks UPS to deliver Freeboxes

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

Free has changed its logistics partner for its Freebox, opting for UPS over the French postal service’s Colissimo service, writes industry website 01net. Parent company Iliad’s CEO, Michel Boukobza, said earlier this year that there were problems with Colissimo, which was incompatible with online sales. According to the Freenews subscriber website, the company delivers 2,000 modems per day. Free said it was maintaining its Freebox exchange system and Kiala deposit points, but would not comment further on its change of contract. Free’s customer service staff, at call centres and call outs, had 1,500 employees in February, according to the CEO.

Read More

GLS plans Spanish acquisitions worth about 250 mln Eur in total

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

Royal Mail Group PLC’s unit General Logistics Systems (GLS), formerly German Parcel, is planning to expand into the Spanish market through acquisitions and has about 250 mln Eur to spend, chief executive Rico Back told newspaper Die Welt.

‘We are in takeover talks in Spain and are planning to complete those in the coming two months,’ he said.

The company plans to further expand its operations into Romania and the Baltic states, the report added.

GLS is currently the third-largest parcel service in Europe.

Read More

TNT Post to freeze wages and cut up to 7,000 jobs

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

TNT will seek to freeze wages and cut up to 7,000 jobs to help lower costs by 300 million euros (USD 400 million) as its remaining monopoly is opened to competition next year.

The dominant Dutch mail company, whose business is already under attack from rivals Sandd and Deutsche Post’s Selekt Mail, did not rule out forced redundancies on Tuesday.

Dutch mail unit TNT Post, one of the country’s biggest employers with 59,000 people, has steadily lost mail volume to competitors and as a result of the popularity of email, online banking and government initiatives such as electronic tax filing.

“Less post means less work,” Harry Koorstra, TNT board member responsible for the mail business, told Dutch news radio BNR, adding the company expected to lose another 30 percent of Dutch mail volume in coming years.

TNT said in December that it aimed to cut costs in its mail division by 300 million euros by 2015. It did not specify what provisions it will take in implementing the cost savings.

The company is also seeking to compensate for shrinking mail volumes at home by growing abroad and expects to benefit from the liberalisation of the European mail market, due by 2009 according to European Commission plans.

TNT still has a monpoly on mail weighing up to 50 grammes, representing about half of the overall mail market, which the Dutch government plans to scrap from 2008.

“Some 65 percent of the cost of delivering post consists of labor, and precisely the factor labor is no longer in step with the market,” Koorstra said, adding competitors paid 7 euros-to-9 euros an hour while a mailman cost 22 euros-to-24 euros.

TNT said it would also seek to change other employment terms, such as making employees pay pension contributions, which currently was not the case.

Without changes to employment terms, some 11,000 employees would have to lose their jobs between 2007 and 2010, TNT said.

Due to a large number of part-time workers in mail delivery, the expected 6,500 to 7,000 job cuts are equivalent to about 4,500 full-time jobs, Koorstra said.

Read More

Rates, reform main topics at National Postal Forum

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

The upcoming rate case and what reform means to the mailing community were the two issues most on the minds of attendees, vendors and speakers at the 2007 National Postal Forum held last week.

Postmaster General John E. Potter stressed that dialogue between mailers and the U.S. Postal Service is key if the mailing industry is going to successfully navigate new roads that have barely been mapped.

“Roles…have changed. Rules [are] under development,” Mr. Potter said. “Today, communication with each other is more important than ever as we work to understand and shape this new world.”

Mr. Potter was referring to the new postal law that took effect on Dec. 20 that changes the role of the agency and the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Mr. Potter also discussed how mailers and the USPS have to work together to mitigate some of the larger rate increases that they face. Catalogers, for example, face 20 percent to 40 percent increases, although these rates are being reconsidered by the PRC. New rates go into effect May 14 for most mailers.

He also explained that boxed cards and boxed checks can easily move to a flat shape, which makes the mail pieces more efficient to process and deliver, and thus lower postage costs.

Some lighter, oversized envelopes and catalogs can be folded and mailed as letters, according to Mr. Potter.

Vendors on the trade show floor also offered tools to help mailers mitigate the increases.

Envelope vendors also said many of their customers and prospects are trying to find ways to switch from flats-shaped to letter-shaped envelopes. To do this, many are planning to fold their mailers to fit into a letter-sized envelope.

Read More

Royal Mail's zonal pricing proposals under fire

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

Royal Mail’s proposals to introduce a more competitive pricing system have been attacked by mail users and postal operators after the industry regulator launched an inquiry.

The state-owned operator wants to introduce a pricing structure for bulk mail to enable it to charge different amounts depending on the destination. This, it says, would help it to cope with mounting competition from private sector operators.

The proposals would mean charging 2.5 per cent more for sending mail to anywhere in Greater London, where costs are 12 per cent higher than the national average. Mail to business districts costs 28 per cent less than average to deliver and Royal Mail is proposing to cut charges 4.9 per cent.

There was anger over the request to charge more for delivering bulk mail inside the M25, which Royal Mail said was necessary to cover higher salaries and the cost of handling congestion.

Alan Halfacre of the Mail Users’ Association said the former monopoly had failed to raise its efficiency in the capital to the level elsewhere in the country.

In its first proposals on zonal pricing, submitted nine months ago, Royal Mail had proposed a 1.7 per cent cut in charges for delivery in the capital. Now it wanted to charge 2.5 per cent more, 4.2 per cent than it had initially proposed – with even larger rises for people living outside built-up areas.

“These increases will en-courage banks, insurers and utilities to move customer billing online. Royal Mail is making itself a problem.”

Royal Mail said its proposals would be cost-neutral, with higher charges in some areas matched by lower prices elsewhere. The cost of sending two-thirds of the mail involved would fall.

But competitors said the move was an attempt to protect the former monopoly from competition by reducing its charges in areas where they could win business.

Read More

U.S. Postal Service makes order for wireless vehicle management systems

Posted by | Apr 3, 2007 | |

I.D. Systems, Inc. today announced that it has received orders from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deploy the company’s Wireless Asset Net(R) powered industrial vehicle management system at seven additional USPS facilities. The orders are cumulatively valued at approximately USD1.8 million. Fulfillment of these orders will increase the number of USPS facilities deploying the Wireless Asset Net to 72.

The Wireless Asset Net consists of intelligent wireless devices (Vehicle Asset Communicators(R)) installed on powered industrial vehicles (such as fork trucks and pallet movers), a patented communication infrastructure, and client-server software for access control, utilization analysis, real-time location tracking, and many other functions. The system is designed to improve industrial workplace safety and security by restricting vehicle access to trained, authorized operators and by providing electronic safety inspection checklists. The system is designed to reduce maintenance expenses by automatically uploading vehicle data, reporting vehicle problems in real time, giving management the option of scheduling maintenance according to actual vehicle usage rather than on a calendar basis, and helping plant management determine the optimal economic time to replace equipment. The system is also designed to help improve productivity by ensuring equipment is in the proper place at the right time and by providing management with unique reports on vehicle utilization.

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