Year: 2005

UK Royal Mail’s autumn first class letter deliveries among the best on record

Posted by | Feb 14, 2005 | |

Royal Mail’s performance during the busy Autumn period was the best in almost ten years, giving the company a solid base to build on for the future. New figures show 91.9% of First Class letters were delivered the working day after posting, a similar performance to that achieved between July and September when volumes are lower and transport less vulnerable to bad weather. Every one of Royal Mail’s fifteen performance measures for letter and parcel services showed significant improvements from last year. On a cumulative basis 12 of the fifteen measures have been maintained or improved. Chief Executive Adam Crozier said, “This is a tremendously encouraging result for everyone in Royal Mail and for our customers, but we know we have more to do. These results clearly buck the usual seasonal trends and show a continuing improvement in underlying performance during the busiest three months of the year.

Read More

GLS charges sent packing;

Posted by | Feb 13, 2005 | |

For the last few years there has been a steady flow of complaints to public representatives, consumer groups, radio talk shows and newspaper editors about package deliveries from America to this country and many other European destinations handled by GLS, a Royal Mail subsidiary, operating out of a central depot in Germany.

This situation arose after An Post, and many other European state-run post offices, lost its handling contracts to GLS. Air mail packages from America to Ireland can now spend an inordinate amount of time sitting in a German sorting warehouse where every package is scrutinised to see if it was liable to a Vat or duty charge and only then dispatched to the recipient with a cash-on-delivery demand for the amount payable.

Read More

TPG, France’s La Poste in joint bid for Belgian post stake

Posted by | Feb 13, 2005 | |

Dutch postal group TPG and French state-owned La Poste have formed a consortium to bid for a stake in Belgium’s state-owned postal service, Le Soir newspaper reported on Saturday. Deutsche Post World Net AG and the Swiss and Danish postal services are also potential bidders. The Belgian government will confirm the list of candidates in early March, and hopes to chose the winning bidder by the summer, the newspaper said.

Read More

Deutsche Post faces order to open mail market to competition immediately

Posted by | Feb 13, 2005 | |

Deutsche Post World Net AG will receive a letter from Germany’s cartel office Monday stating it may no longer prohibit competitors from collecting, sorting and franking commercial letters that weigh less than 100 grammes, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported in an unsourced pre-release of tomorrow’s edition. Deutsche Post is scheduled to lose its monopoly at the end of 2007 as part of an EU-wide move to liberalise the market for mail delivery.

Read More

Pall-Ex owner Devey says: ‘Let them speculate’

Posted by | Feb 12, 2005 | |

Pall-Ex annual dinner moves to Hyde Park, London and hears confident boss looking forward to future of growth. More hauliers expected to join.

Pall-Ex owner Hilary Devey shrugged off speculation as to her “exit strategy”, when she addressed network members at their annual dinner dance last Saturday. She told 440 people at the InterContinental Hotel in London: “Let them speculate. I’ll get on with the job, making Pall-Ex more successful, more prestigious and more profitable.” Devey, notably confident and relaxed, promised investment, growth and innovation, and allowed herself a joke about flooding at the new hub, which had been worked so hard that the floor had “broken into a sweat”. “Pall-Ex will always be the number one network,” she said. Networking with Pall-Ex provides a cushion for firms in a tough market.

Read More

100th Depot in UK for Palletways

Posted by | Feb 12, 2005 | |

Birmingham-based Palletways, has announced the creation of its 100th depot in the UK.

The company, which lays claim to being Europe’s largest and fastest growing player in the overnight-freight sector, is the first pallet network to reach this milestone.

Under the agreement, Berser International Cargo Services will serve the Newcastleunder-Lyme area in Staffordshire from a depot in Stoke-on-Trent.

The move came after ten years of steady growth, with annual turnover now at the pounds 65 million mark.

Berser is part of the Berser Group and also has operations in Rotterdam, Holland.

Read More

Dutch Post to opt back in to EU cross-border deal?

Posted by | Feb 12, 2005 | |

Dutch postal operator TPG Post will join new talks on cross-border mail services, six years after it opted out of a European price agreement for delivering mail to and from other EU countries. Jan Sertons, distribution and international relations manager at TPG Post, said the company wanted to reach a “customer- and market-orientated solution” when the current REIMS agreement runs out at the end of 2006. He told a Brussels legal conference on February 10 that staying out of REIMS meant TPG Post had won lower tariffs and better quality of service.

Read More

MAILING ISSUES: Time to deliver

Posted by | Feb 11, 2005 | |

With the postal services market opening up, mailers could soon be able to select the day of the week in which direct mail and door-drops arrive. Despite being heralded as the most accountable medium, direct mail – and door-drops – do not offer any physical evidence of being delivered in the form of written confirmation by the postal service. One thing you can be sure about with advertising is that an ad has appeared. With TV ads, simply watching during the right slot will provide confirmation, even before the contractor sends out a written report. Radio and press ads can also be physically monitored – and research companies exist that do just that. Even door-to-door can now be monitored using a service like StepCheck. But once the mailing house has raised a docket saying items were handed over to Royal Mail, mailers just have to wait and see if the enquiries or orders start to come in. It is a surprising gap. The sheer volume of items makes it impossible to validate that every single item has been distributed. But the absence of proof reflects another gap in direct mail’s measurability: guaranteed delivery dates.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

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