Year: 2005

Three out of four Belgians prefer paper mail

Posted by | Nov 18, 2005 | |

Three out of fours Belgians still prefer paper mail to email, a survey of the Belgian research bureau M.A.S, ordered by the Belgian postal service company De Post/La Poste, showed on November 18, 2005. The results of the survey showed that paper mail has a future, CEO of the Belgian postal company, Johnny Thijs, said. According to the survey, only 61 pct of the Belgians under 34 years preferred paper mail, while 84 pct of the surveyed aged over 55 years admitted they preferred paper mail. Eight of ten Belgians said they preferred to receive their bills and administrative documents on paper. Two of three surveyed said they hurried to open their mail box and experience the reading of the mail as a pleasant moment.

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La Poste receives 1m Euro fine

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

La Poste, the French postal service operator, has been fined 1m euros by the competition authorities. The reason for this is that the company had charged prices that benefited certain customers and its subsidiary Datapost, which specialises in sorting and mailing.

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Business Post rivals say they are growing

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Business Post and chief executive Paul Carvell were in the eye of a parcels sector storm this week. At issue is the degree to which its high-profile problems are specific to the company and how much they reflect a downturn in the sector. The group has been under intense scrutiny as the only pure parcels firm to be publicly traded, and stock market sentiment is clear; the share price has plummeted from a steady 690p to just 320p as the group rushed out earlier-than-expected interim results and with them a second warning on profits in seven weeks. Carvell says year-on-year volumes are falling for the first time in the firm’s 34-year history. The decline reflects the market, he says, and rivals are said to have emailed him messages to that effect when he had to issue a profits warning on September 21.

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US postage rates going up again

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Yesterday the Postal Service announced that it would raise rates by 5.4% on January 8th, 2006. The cost to mail a letter will increase by 2 cents to 39 cents. In their announcement, postal officials blamed Congress and the 2003 CSRS pension law for the rate hike, stating, “This rate increase – the first since 2002 – is needed to fulfill the requirement of a federal law passed in 2003. That law requires the Postal Service to establish a USD3.1 billion escrow account, with use of the funds to be determined by Congress at a later date. Without this federal mandate, it would not have been necessary to raise rates in 2006.”

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UK regulator set to reject Royal Mail plea over efficiency

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

The postal regulator is expected to reject Royal Mail’s plea for an easier regime on efficiency improvements when a final plan for price controls is produced this month. Nigel Stapleton, chairman of Postcomm, said that some of Royal Mail’s claims were “almost impossible to believe”. He criticised its initial business plan, submitted as part of the regulatory review of prices, as lacking coherence. In an interview with The Times, Mr Stapleton said that, although Postcomm might accept changes to its initial plans for stamp prices, it was unlikely to give ground on its demands for efficiency gains of 3 per cent. Royal Mail has said that it can manage only 1.5 per cent. Mr Stapleton said: “They achieved savings of 1 per cent in the 1990s with very little investment in the business and what was perceived as being poor management. Now they are intending greater investment and have what is regarded as a good management…It is almost impossible to believe their numbers.”

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Emirates Post signs Dh14 million contract to install advanced mail sorting machines

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Emirates Post will increase its sorting capacity by 10 times after the installation of new advanced sorting machines, as part of new measures to cope with rising mail volumes. The machines will be installed at a new sorting building that will be constructed in Ramool. A Dh. 14 million contract was signed between Emirates Post and NEC Corporation for the supply and installation of two sorting machines

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Japan Post eyes corporate business

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

The steadily diversifying Japan Post will expand its business scope yet again with a joint venture in delivery of corporate documents. Its partner will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., which already provides similar services, sources said. The public postal corporation will compete for the service with Yamato Transport Co. and other distribution companies, which are aggressively expanding delivery of corporate documents.
The plan to form a joint venture with Mitsubishi UFJ Daiko Business Co. is expected to be announced this month, sources said.

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Letter volumes fall but UK Royal Mail Group’s overall profit rises 20% with boost from European parcels business

Posted by | Nov 17, 2005 | |

Royal Mail Group today announced a 20.5% increase in operating profit to GBP159 million for the first half of 2005-06 but warned that profits in its letters business had fallen as growth in addressed mail volumes went into reverse.
Allan Leighton, Royal Mail Group’s Chairman, said the downturn in letters profits and volumes meant the biggest part of the Company was no longer contributing to the Group’s overall growth in profitability. The Group operating profit of GBP159 million in the six months to the end of September 2005 was a GBP27 million improvement on the same period a year earlier. But the increase was driven by better financial performance in General Logistics Systems (Royal Mail’s European parcels business), Post Office Limited and Parcelforce Worldwide. Operating profit in the letters business had fallen as addressed mail volumes declined for the first time in a quarter of a century.

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