WebTelegram. Product of Absys Cyborg
WebTelegram. Product of Absys Cyborg
Read MoreYear: 2007
Canada Post reviewing roadside delivery
Canada Post is conducting a review of the country’s 843,000 roadside mailboxes to determine whether using them to deliver mail to rural areas is safe.
The cross-country review began in Stratford, P.E.I., this week. The review comes after hundreds of concerns were raised about the safety of rural mail drivers. In the past two years, there have been 34 accidents involving rural mail carriers.
Canada Post says it is still committed to rural mail delivery, but it also owes a duty of care to its drivers.
Population growth, leading to increased traffic, is making some areas that were once safe no longer safe, says Canada Post. Sufficient sightlines for a driver to react to a mail carrier pulling back on to the road are also necessary.
Changing a customer’s mode of delivery, says Canada Post, is something considered only as a last resort.
A separate review has already been conducted along a small route in Cornwall, P.E.I., prompted by a complaint from the mail carrier.
The 10 customers on that route will hear next week if delivery to the end of their driveways will continue.
Canada Post says it is still committed to rural mail delivery, but it also owes a duty of care to its drivers.
The full national review is expected to take about 2.5 years.
Read MorePostal Service won't add more private mail carriers
The U.S. Postal service has agreed not to hand over any of the country’s new urban mail routes to private companies, at least for the next six months. All plans to contract out new mail deliveries, including a proposal for building in Perth Amboy, have been withdrawn.
The agreement is a victory for members of the national letter carriers’ union, who have been concerned with the postal service’s increased use of part-time, non-union employees to deliver mail. Now, according to a contract tentatively agreed on last night, a committee will be formed to look at the issue of privatization.
In New Jersey, the postal service has also reversed its recent decision to privatize routes in Little Falls, West Paterson and West Orange. And in Perth Amboy, the building that the postal service had planned to assign to a private contractor is now part of a city carrier’s route.
Read MoreUpdate on CWU strike action at Royal Mail
Royal Mail said the Communication Workers Union strike had slipped and remained extremely patchy with the percentage of people coming to work ranging from 5 pct to more than 60pct around the country. Royal Mail added that the network of 14,220 Post Offices was operating as normal.
The company said that, as ever, it is willing to meet the union at any time. Royal Mail met Dave Ward and Billy Hayes on Wednesday evening to explain again the company’s urgent need to change, as all its major rivals in the UK postal services market have already done, if it is to thrive in an increasingly tough marketplace. Chairman Allan Leighton and Chief Executive Adam Crozier set out the very serious competitive threat facing the company and its people but the union nevertheless decided to go ahead with a second damaging 24-hour strike which started at 7pm last Thursday.
Royal Mail has offered a package of pay which gives a basic pay rise of 2.5% for change as well as a GBP 800 dividend if we hit our targets – plus the opportunity to earn a 50:50 share of any savings over and above budget.
Mr Leighton called on the CWU to accept the absolute need to modernise and take off their block on local change in 250 operational units where changes have been agreed with our people and the union locally but blocked by the CWU at a national level.
Royal Mail remains very willing to meet the union at any time to explain the company’s position.
Read MoreTNT launches new division in UK multi-media market
TNT has announced the launch of a new division with the aim of taking the largest market share in the growing multi media and entertainments sector in the UK. The newly formed TNT Media & Entertainment Division already has a number of contracts, including partnerships with customers such as Universal and Pinnacle Arvato.
TNT co-ordinates daily deliveries of CDs and DVDs to more than 2000 UK retail outlets, and is expanding into providing tailored services for film, music and computer gaming distributors.
Danny Geach, the newly-appointed General Manager of TNT Media & Entertainment, said: “This is an attractive new vertical market for us with customers who distribute high volumes of items to the High Street which is an area where we can obviously excel”.
Read MoreACMA In defense of the catalog
Catalog mailing costs are hitting new highs, especially for the business-to-business mailers who lack the criteria necessary for the best discounts.
Panelist C. Hamilton Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association, explored how we got here and what we need to do to promote a favorable change.
The United States Postal Service handles 98 billion pieces of First Class Mail a year, accounting for USD 5 billion for last year; 103 billion pieces of Standard Mail accounting for USD 20 billion; .9 billion pieces of priority mail, accounting for USD 5 billion; 9 billion periodicals, accounting for USD 2 billion; 1.2 billion pieces of package services, accounting for USD 2.3 billion; and 2 billion other pieces accounting for 2.5 billion.
Overall the USPS handled 53.2 billion pieces of mail last year, accounting for USD 16.7 billion.
Standard Mail has seen a great increase and mail volume and delivery points are also increasing.
The growth of the US economy and mail volume coincides and mail is not going away, because it helps consumers thrive. It connects consumers to the market.
Most catalogers spend less than 10 percent of their time worrying about postal issues. This is ironic considering the USPS controls access to the consumer.
He talked about how catalogers are good for the USPS and for consumers.
Converting customers, for example, is good for the USPS as well because it results in multiple mail pieces.
Read MoreNew CEO at DHL Express Sweden starting 2008
At his own request, DHL Express Sweden’s CEO, Lars Sundman, will be resigning from his post at the end of 2007. Lars Sundman is 57, and has worked with DHL management to draw up a smooth succession plan for DHL Express Sweden. Lars Sundman will remain a member of DHL Express Sweden’s Board of Directors, while continuing to work as advisor to the CEO of DHL Express Nordic.
Starting 6 January 2008, the new CEO will be Lars Jordahn, Danish by birth, who currently works at DHL in Brussels as head of Hubs & Gateways in Europe. Lars Jordahn started working at DHL in 1984 and has since held some ten positions of increasing responsibility within the company.
Lars Sundman started out working at ASG in 1977. ASG was later acquired by Deutsche Post World Net, leading eventually to the merger between DHL and Danzas in 2003. Lars Sundman has since then had a successful tenure as CEO of DHL Express Sweden.
Lars Jordahn will start out by managing two projects at DHL Express Sweden in August 2007. Alongside these responsibilities, he will undergo a five-month phasing-in period during which time he will be introduced to his work as chief executive officer by CEO Lars Sundman before ultimately taking over as CEO by the end of the year.
Read MoreRussian Post Opens Money Transfer Line to China
State-owned Russian Post said last Thursday it is launching a money transfer service to China in its first ever foreign venture. The Russian money transfer leader plans to sign next partnership deals with postal services in France, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
A money transfer deal with China Post was signed in mid-June, Russian Post told Kommersant. Russians and Chinese have been able to send money through the service since Monday.
China has become Russian Post’s first foreign partner in money transfers. The state-run postal service plans to reach similar agreements with their partners in France, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
USD 6 billion was sent from Russia in money transfers in 2006, according to the Central Bank. China is ranked 9th in the list of countries receiving the biggest amount of transfers from Russia.
Russian Post is the leader of the country’s leader money transfer with some 40 percent of the market.
Money transfer services largely rely on labour migrants’ remittances. 210,000 Chinese work in Russia making up the largest migrant labour group.
Experts note that Chinese are quite conservative and prefer services of big corporations, which increase Russian Post for success.
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