Year: 2006

Environmental concerns lead Deutsche Post to RFID

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Deutsche Post World Net has launched a project to develop passive RFID tags incorporating a small, rewriteable display for use on mail containers. The D-RFID tags, as they’re called, will be used as part of an RFID application under development to track DPWN’s 6 million yellow shipping containers. The company utilizes the crates to hold the 70 million letters that pass through its 84 distribution centers each day.

DPWN currently throws away about 500 million of these paper labels per year. Printing 500 million labels annually is still the cheapest way for it to label the reusable plastic bins, however, so the company initiated a project called Pariflex (Passive RFID with Flexible Bistable Display) to eliminate this environmental waste. D-RFID tags are high-frequency passive RFID tags with displays powered by the tags, which draw their energy from the magnetic field of the RFID interrogator.

The Pariflex project got rolling in October 2005 and will run until September 2008, funded with euro2.5 million (USD3.3 million) from the German Federal Ministry and Research (BMBF). The companies involved will also contribute to the budget if government funds don’t cover expenses, said Gerhard Stönner, DPWN’s head of engineering in the mail division and a manager of the D-RFID project. So far, the partners have developed demonstration tags with the full functionality needed by the application, though these tags contain batteries.

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Europe's largest UHF EPC (European Product Code) Project

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

In Europe, the Spanish Post Office “Correos” has implemented what they say is Europe’s largest UHF RFID system for any sector. Correos ships 25 million articles every day, utilizing 30,000 boxes and 11,500 vehicles.
The RFID implementation uses 332 UHF Gen2 readers and 1,992 reader antennas supplied by Symbol Technologies. These are installed in sorting centers in 16 cities across Spain. Some 5,000 passive RFID tags are employed, which are reused. A tag is inserted into an envelope and sent as any other piece of mail through the system. The readers throughout the postal system read the tags, such as when they first enter the sorting center; when they are taken to the automation room; and when they are dispatched. The RFID system monitors the movement of the letters and logs the performance of the postal system in real time. At any one time thousands of tags are in the mail supply chain, each building up a picture of the performance of the postal system. This allows Correos to quickly detect bottlenecks or delays and tackle these. As tags are received at different addresses they are sent back again to another address to monitor the mail flow. The central server which is in Madrid also monitors the reader network through the country to ensure that each reader is operating correctly. The passive tags cost less than 30 Euro cents each and weigh a few grams.

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FedEx reports solid revenue and earnings growth

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

FedEx Corporation today reported earnings of USD1.64 per diluted share for the second quarter ended November 30, compared to USD1.53 per diluted share a year ago. The quarter’s results included costs associated with the new pilot labor contract at FedEx Express. The net effect of this agreement reduced second quarter earnings by approximately USD0.25 per diluted share. Excluding these costs, second quarter earnings were USD1.89 per diluted share, an increase of 24% from last year’s second quarter.

FedEx Corp. reported the following consolidated results for the second quarter. Revenue of USD8.93 billion, up 10% from USD8.09 billion the previous year.
Operating income of USD839 million, up 6% from USD790 million a year ago.
Operating margin of 9.4%, down from last year’s 9.8%.

Net income of USD511 million, up 8% from USD471 million the previous year
Total combined average daily package volume at FedEx Express and FedEx Ground grew 7% year over year for the quarter, led by ground and international express package growth.

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TNT welcomes the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in the EU

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

TNT announced that it has invested significantly in Bulgaria and Romania in order to capitalize on the expansion of the EU in January 2007. Investments in new line haul connections and depots will enable TNT Express to benefit from the increase of trade between the existing EU countries and Bulgaria and Romania.

In Bulgaria, TNT Express has developed new domestic line hauls which allow offering same day export from the South-Eastern Bulgaria region as well as Central, Northern and North-Western Bulgaria. For 2007, it is planned to further develop the North Bulgaria line haul to enable same day export for the North-Eastern Bulgaria region as well.

In Romania, TNT Express is well equipped to gain from the increased trade between the EU countries. TNT has developed the largest network in Romania with three international depots in Otopeni, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. Investments have focused on improvement of the infrastructure and the line haul network. Transit times have been reduced from two days to one, for documents and parcels, import and exports, between Romania and all EU countries.

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Competition for postal dollar delivered

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Freightways says its purchase of the franchisor rights of small mail service Pete’s Post will expand the business from the main cities and ramp up competition against NZ Post.
Freightways’ postal service, DX Mail, said it bought the mail delivery businesses of Pete’s Post in Taranaki, Manawatu, Wanganui, Hawkes Bay and Bay of Plenty for NZD1.3 million.
Purchase of mail service expands alternative to NZ Post from cities into the regions
Freightways managing director Dean Bracewell said the purchase would allow the company’s DX Mail service to expand from the cities to the regional centres of New Zealand and increase competitive pressure on NZ Post.
Pete’s Post business complemented DX Mail which operated in all major towns and cities in New Zealand and had street-delivery services in Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington, said Bracewell.
Freightways has forecast that the Pete’s Post arm would deliver operating earnings of about NZD500,000 over the next 12 months.

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FedEx contract loss means Business Post shares struggle

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Business Post shares suffered yesterday when US logistics giant FedEx confirmed it was scrapping a major contract with the company, which has a hub in Birmingham.

The move follows FedEx’s pounds 120 million acquisition of ANC Holdings, a major rival to Business Post in the UK.

Business Post’s shares retreated 32 1/4 ViTp to 429 3/4 p in early trading but later recovered some lost ground to close 17 1/4 p down at 444 1/2 p, a loss of 3.7 per cent. FedEx said it intended to terminate Business Post’s contract as “Global Service Participant” in the UK, a contract that accounts for about six per cent of the company’s turnover.

Given the operational gearing of the contract, the impact on earnings is likely to be slightly higher, City analysts believe.

Broker Altium has, however, maintained its earnings estimate for the time being.

But it has cut its long-term target price for the stock from 450p to 425p, while Teather & Greenwood downgraded shares from “buy” to “sell”.

Business Post said in a Stock Exchange statement that it expected the FedEx contract, which only came into effect in September this year, to end in September 2007.

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Direct Mail spending surges 7.5% in 2006, more growth ahead

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

Despite rising postal rates, higher raw materials costs and the advent of numerous alternative channels, marketers continue to seek out the return on investment benefits of direct mail. spending USD60.6 billion on the channel in 2006 – according to a white paper released today by Winterberry Group, a leading strategic consulting firm serving the marketing industry.

The white paper, entitled Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail and the Impact on Production Service Providers 2006, is the New York-based consulting firm’s third annual study of the direct mail production sector.
Winterberry Group forecasts continued growth in direct mail through the 2009 timeframe.

The white paper further outlines three macro trends and five vertical market trends which should play significant roles in shaping the direction of direct mail use in 2007. The macro trends include:

– Complex, high-volume multichannel campaigns become the industry standard, driven by enhanced marketing database segmentation tools and widespread CRM adoption

– Forthcoming postal rate increase, combined with new delivery point validation
regulations, drive the need for advanced data hygiene and postal optimization services

– Strategy and creative service providers move to integrate analytics and consumer
targeting services with their existing portfolios, in order to counteract the threat of service commoditization in the agency space.

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President Bush Signs New Postal Law

Posted by | Dec 20, 2006 | |

President George W. Bush today signed into law new postal legislation that will benefit both residential and business customers by ensuring predictable price increases tied to the rate of inflation.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act is the first major change to the Postal Service since 1971. The law enables the organization to continue its transformation efforts and cost-cutting measures.

This is the culmination of a 12-year effort by Congress to secure changes to the laws governing the Postal Service. It will link future rate increases to the Consumer Price Index and give the Postal Service more flexibility for pricing competitive products. The Act also reconstitutes the existing Postal Rate Commission into a regulatory body with greater authority and responsibility. The current rate case under consideration will proceed as scheduled. The Postal Service will be able to file one last rate case under the current rules.

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