Business Post has moved into larger premises in London to meet growing demand for its express parcel delivery services in the capital. The new depot in Greenford is almost twice the size of the old Park Royal facility.
Read MoreExpress companies are lining up to offer broader domestic mail services following full UK postal liberalisation on 1 January.
Read MoreAmtrak Express parcels is offering a two-man delivery service for retailers which need to deliver popular items such as plasma and LCD TVs, as well as other electrical goods and home appliances.
Service options include next day or evening, and a special service for fragile items with a “shock watch” to ensure careful handling and additional peace of mind.
The global express service provider FedEx has completed his efforts to expand in North Africa and the Middle East. In Libya and Algeria, FedEx services will be offered via a network of global service participants. (GSP).
Read MoreTesco has delivered a warning shot to Royal Mail by handing rival DHL Global Mail a major tranche of its Clubcard direct mail business, as part of a trial.
Although the Clubcard account is not huge in terms of mail volumes – the retailer mails its 12 million members every three months and sends a raft of customer magazines – it is a prestigious brief, forming the backbone of the retailer’s marketing strategy. A Tesco spokeswoman confirmed the appointment, but refused to comment on any expansion of the DHL trials.
Swedish national post office Posten AB plans to close down 26 post offices in the first quarter of 2006, it was reported on January 19, 2006. The closures are part of an ongoing restructuring of Posten’s operations, which will be completed by April 1, 2006. The move will affect 15 employees but the company will try to avoid layoffs. Under the reorganisation, the company will convert some 360 post centres across Sweden into corporate service centres as of April 1, 2006. Posten’s private clients will be redirected to its representative offices.
Read MoreThe first thing Alex Batchelor did when he joined Royal Mail as marketing director last September was to accompany postmen on their rounds.
“He wanted to understand the business from the bottom up,” says Neil Jones, MD of Royal Mail’s media buyer Carat.
It takes little stretch of the imagination to think of the genial Batchelor mucking in with Royal Mail postmen. “Very lively, perceptive, funny, with a brain the size of a planet,” is how former colleague Graham Hales, executive director at Interbrand, describes him.
Batchelor joined Royal Mail at an interesting juncture in its 350-year history. Since 1 January, the postal services market has been opened fully to competition, and Royal Mail is fighting to retain its place as the market’s biggest player. Batchelor, the former executive director of worldwide brand at Orange and before that joint MD at Interbrand, was hired for his commercial marketing nous.
Read MoreJapan Post will not be able to develop a new computer system in time for October 2007 – when Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister, has pledged to split it into four separate units in preparation for full privatisation – according to its president. “We cannot do it. It’s such a gigantic business,” said Masaharu Ikuta, president of Japan Post, referring to the world’s biggest savings institution. The post office has more than Dollars 3,000bn (Pounds 1,700bn) in deposits, 280,000 employees and 24,000 branches. It is due to begin a 10-year transition towards full privatisation from October 2007, a six-month delay from the original timetable, which was disrupted because of initial parliamentary opposition. Mr Ikuta’s remarks come at a particularly sensitive time, given the high-profile failure of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s computer system to deal with high volumes of orders. Those problems led to the early closure of the TSE on Wednesday and warnings that it might have to shut down again if volumes were too high.
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