TNT Logistics has extended its UK distribution contract with Akzo Nobel Decorative Coatings and delivered a new vehicle fleet. TNT Logistics and parent Dutch chemical group Akzo Nobel NV have been cooperating for 22 years. The current deal extends TNT Logistics’ northern UK distribution contract for additional three years and its southern distribution contract until 2010.
Read MoreA union representative for rural mail carriers says Canada Post overreacted by suspending service to thousands of country mailboxes because of health and safety issues. Heather Manuel, health and safety representative for rural and suburban mail carriers in the Fredericton area, said Wednesday rural route drivers feel they are being unfairly blamed by residents who are furious about the sudden loss of home delivery. Over 1,000 Canada Post customers in rural areas surrounding Fredericton have had home delivery suspended because their mailboxes were deemed unsafe. Thousands of mailboxes elsewhere in Canada are now off limits as Canada Post reviews its entire rural mail delivery system.
Read MoreFinance Minister Thierry Breton said the government will respond ‘clearly’ to the EU Commission’s investigation into the restricted distribution of Livret A and Livret Bleu savings accounts, though it has not yet received any elements of the infringement proceedings. ‘Of course, we are ready to respond clearly,’ Breton told journalists. Earlier today, the Commission said it will contest the granting of exclusive distribution rights of Livret A savings accounts to state-owned La Poste and mutual bank Caisse d’Epargne.
Read MoreAustralia Post recorded a AD56.9m downturn in profits from mail deliveries in 2005. This side of its business contributed AD.6bn of the group’s total revenue of AD4.3bn for the year. Australia Post proposes to arrest its declining profits by introducing an electronic billing system, which will provide companies with an alternative to mailing traditional paper-based bills to clients. Profile Marketing estimates that Australian companies spend AD50m to AD150m a week on sending out paper bills. The electronic system would charge businesses AD0.50 to send each bill.
Read MoreThe UK Home Delivery and Fulfilment 2006 report finds that delivery cost is the biggest gripe among consumers, with one in five saying these are too high. Consumers would use home delivery more if it was cheaper, the report says.
Growth in the UK’s £37bn home delivery sector hit just 3.2% in 2005, almost half the 5.6% growth in 2004.
Mail order home delivery sales have tumbled by £585m from 2002. While online ordering grew by £1.8bn in 2005, it has not helped the home delivery markers cause.
Nick Gladding, the report’s author, recommends that making home delivery seem more affordable is a key solution to drive up sales.
“One of the barriers consumers listed for using home delivery was the price. The evidence suggests that retailers that have made an effort to lower prices on home delivery have seen big gains. Free home delivery is something to aim for but it’s not always practical.” he says.
Parcels operators at the UK Express Delivery Conference in Birmingham this week were unimpressed.
Jonathan Smith, managing director of Amtrak, stressed the importance of getting the right price for delivery, noting that “in real terms, the prices parcel companies are getting for movement are the same as they were eight years ago.”
Matthew Robertson, project director of TNT UK’s new B2C division, TNT Post, did not anticipate a trend towards free delivery: “I don’t think you will see that in a number of providers,” he told us.
A spokesperson for e-tailer Firebox.com told Motor Transport that the company already subsidised its delivery costs to account for a standard £3.95 charge.
Read MoreInterview with FedEx Chairman, President & CEO Interview
Read MoreThe Pantagraph editorial “No stamp of approval for proposed increases” (June 1) spells out the many “flaws” in the entire United States Postal Service system.
The monopoly on first-class mail granted the USPS many, many years ago was necessary to ensure this service was made available to everyone equally. Those days are long gone. The need for this gigantic money loser no longer exists, thanks to the superior job being done by UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, etc. They offer delivery to every address in the United Sates daily – as well as literally worldwide. Given the opportunity, they would certainly be able to use their expertise in taking on first-class and parcel post. And competition would keep the rates down, while keeping levels of service up.
Read MoreRed-faced Royal Mail bosses have been forced to deny they are launching a new postal service, which would see consumers opt in to receive bundled direct mail, after one executive publicly suggested the scheme was in the pipeline.
Royal Mail head of media propositions Fraser Chisholm was speaking at a conference in central London last week, entitled DM Personalisation, at which a pre-recorded interview with OgilvyOne vice-chairman and creative director Rory Sutherland was aired.
Sutherland joked that, if pricing in proportion (PIP) forced brand owners to standardise their mailings, Royal Mail might as well bundle up all direct mail, place it in a big envelope and deliver it to households once a week.
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