Year: 2008

Decisions on Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Post Office Branches Announced

Posted by | Jan 9, 2008 | |

Post Office Ltd today announced decisions on the future of Post Office® branches across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight following a six week public consultation ending on 26 November. Post Office® services will be provided through a network of 300 branches, which supports the national accessibility criteria introduced by the Government and ensures that 99.5 pct of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s population will either see no change to their existing branch or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

The plan confirmed today means that 61 branches will close in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with the first closures scheduled to take place in February 2008. These branches were detailed in the Area Plan proposal published on 16 October 2007.

The replacement of eight branches by outreach solutions was also confirmed in principle today subject to final agreement with Postwatch. However for six of the branches, where Post Office Ltd is still to finalise detailed proposals a further consultation process will be held. Information on these proposals will be published shortly.

Following a review of issues raised during consultation Goodworth Clatford Post Office branch, originally proposed for closure will now remain open. Feedback showed concerns about a range of issues and that a disproportionate number of closures were proposed on the southern side of Andover, with the nearest branches to Goodworth Clatford – Anna Valley to the north and Leckford to the south – both being proposed for closure.

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Decision Announcement on Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll and Bute Area Plan

Posted by | Jan 9, 2008 | |

Post Office Ltd today (January 9 2008) announced decisions on the future of Post Office® branches across Greater Glasgow, Central Scotland and Argyll & Bute, following a six week public consultation ending on 3 December 2007.

Post Office® services will continue to be provided through a network of 264 branches, which supports the national accessibility criteria introduced by the UK Government and ensures that 99.9 pct of the area’s population will either see no change to their existing branch or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

The plan confirmed today also means that 40 branches will close within this area plan, with the first closures scheduled to take place in February. These branches were detailed in the Area Plan proposal published on 23 October 2007.

During this first six-week local public consultation, Post Office Ltd received around 5,665 responses and attended 35 meetings with customers and their representatives to understand customers’ concerns. This also helped to ensure that all information provided by customers formed part of the final decision regarding each affected branch in the area plan.

Four branches originally proposed for closure – Cultenhove in Stirling, Auchenback in Barrhead, Kelvindale and Hyndland in Glasgow – will now remain open following a review of the issues raised during consultation. These issues related to the factors of geography, the availability of local transport and access to alternative branches, local demographics and the impact on local economics.

During consultation, feedback relating to Kelvindale Post Office highlighted the lack of transport to one of the alternative branches at Hillhead. We also noted the regeneration plans by Tesco Plc to redevelop its store at Maryhill, which also hosts a Post Office branch.

Post Office Ltd has also removed Hyndland Post Office branch from the plan following further consideration into the proximity and impact on alternative branches and bus routes in the area.

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Pitney Bowes launches online resource for Intelligent Mail barcode

Posted by | Jan 9, 2008 | |

Pitney Bowes has launched an Intelligent Mail barcode resource area on its postal information site, www.pbpostalinfo.com.

“The Intelligent Mail Barcode is the key that will unlock a host of new services for mailers,” said John Ward, president of mail services for Pitney Bowes Inc. “We will have tremendous new opportunities to use information to enhance the value of each mail piece, which will help mailers, recipients and the entire mailstream value chain.”

The site includes background on the Intelligent Mail barcode, which was developed by the US Postal Service to encode routing and tracking information on mail. It first became available for use in 2006. The site also contains a link to a Pitney Bowes whitepaper called “Getting Smart About Intelligent Mail.”

The US Postal Service is currently seeking feedback on proposed rules related to the use of Intelligent Mail barcodes. According to these rules, as of January 2009, automation prices will no longer be available for the Postnet barcode. In contrast to the Intelligent Mail barcode, the Postnet barcode only encodes routing information.

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Fund transfers for Mongolians get faster

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

Mongolians workers in Korea can now send money to their home country much faster than before.

The Korea Post launched Monday (Jan.7) the so-called Eurogiro service with Mongolia, which enables people in Korea to wire money to Mongolia within three to five days using an electronic money transfer system.

Eurogiro is a fast and cost-effective electronic transaction system that easily allows cross-border transfers of funds.

Users can directly send money to the recipient’s home address through the system or deposit money into an account issued by a postal office to transfer funds.

Previously wiring money to Mongolia from Korea had taken much longer, because users first had to get a certificate of money exchange from Mongolia and then send money by mail.

With the launch of the service, Mongolia is the third country to use Eurogiro with Korea, following Japan and Switzerland. The Korea Post plans to further expand the number of countries to use the service with.

60 countries are members of the Eurogiro network.

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DHL to offer shipping services from Walgreens

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

DHL said on Wednesday it has entered into an agreement with Walgreen Co to offer shipping services from Walgreen’s stores by the end of 2008.

DHL said in a statement that the agreement to offer overnight, ground or international package shipping services from 6,500 stores — Walgreen is projected to have that many outlets by the end of this year — will more than double its retail presence in the United States.

The “DHL Shipping Spot” will be staffed by Walgreen employees at photo counters, DHL said.

DHL has a far smaller U.S. presence than United Parcel Service Inc and its main rival FedEx Corp, which dominate the market.

Both package giants have their own branded retail presence, FedEx Kinko’s and UPS Stores.

DHL generated about USD 4 billion of revenue in 2006.

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Pitney Bowes launches web site focused on Intelligent Mail (R) barcode implementation

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

Recent years have seen profound changes sweeping through the
mailing industry: postal reform, shape-based pricing, and a host of
other initiatives that have forced mailers to rethink every aspect of
their strategies and operations.

This pace of change will not let up in 2008 as the industry
prepares for the next major shift: widespread deployment of the
Intelligent Mail(R) barcode requirement, a change that will be largely
invisible to consumers but that has vast implications for mailers of
all sizes.

To help these organizations learn more about the Intelligent
Mail(R) barcode and other initiatives, Pitney Bowes maintains a web
site dedicated to providing information on such major initiatives and
has now added the latest information about the Intelligent Mail(R)
barcode.

The Intelligent Mail(R) barcode is the tool that the United States
Postal Service will use to dramatically enhance its service to
mailers. The barcode has the capacity to uniquely identify every piece
of mail entering the postal system, a first for the Postal Service.
This technology will enable unprecedented visibility into the postal
network for mailers and for the Postal Service itself, opening the
door to a host of new and valuable opportunities for companies to make
their mailings even more efficient and effective. For example, the
advanced barcode will enable mailers to track all outbound statements
and inbound payments, greatly improving customer communications when
there is a question about a bill or payment.

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Torok retiring as Head of UPS Asia; Derek Woodward named as successor

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

Ken Torok, who for the past five years has guided UPS’s Asia Pacific operations, will retire this spring and be replaced by Derek Woodward, a long-time UPS manager who currently works as one of Torok’s top deputies.

Woodward, 45, is a Canadian native who joined UPS in 1985 as a part-time package sorter and then driver. Seventeen of his 23 years in the transportation and logistics industry have been spent working outside North America for UPS in a wide variety of marketing, business development and sales positions. He moved to Singapore last year to serve as a senior vice president to Torok, responsible for all staff functions for the Asia Pacific Region.

The succession will take effect on April 1.

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T-Systems manages DHL's package stations throughout Germany

Posted by | Jan 8, 2008 | |

DHL has entrusted the operation of approximately 900 package stations in Germany entirely to T-Systems. All of the self-service stations are connected to a data network that securely forwards all of the information contained in the customer requests to a central data center. T-Systems is now responsible for all of the information and communications technology services from the machines to the computers. The four-year contract also covers the services for stations currently in planning. The subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net is planning to set up an additional 1,500 “always-open package stations” by the end of 2009.

T-Systems developed the “Packstation Center” solution to run the stations. All of the connections from locations distributed throughout Germany come together at a service center in Hanover. There, T-Systems employees monitor and handle all of the processes between the data center and the package stations. They identify problems immediately and eliminate any errors that may arise. Customer data is protected against external access during transmission from the stations via the network. An e-mail and SMS application makes sure that DHL automatically informs its customers when their package has arrived at its destination. T-Systems also coordinates all collaboration with additional service providers such as those that clean or provide maintenance services to the package stations on site.

DHL’s package stations are open 24 hours a day. Customers can pick up and ship packages at these stations as well pay for the services with their bank card.

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