Parcel firms expand direct mail services
A potentially profitable regulatory change has landed on the doorstep of parcel delivery companies. And Yamato Transport Co. is wasting no time in getting the wrapping off its new business plans.
The nation’s largest private parcel delivery service and some of its rivals plan to expand their home delivery of unsolicited direct mail, magazines and catalogs.
These moves are a response to the government’s recent decision to relax regulations governing the sort of mail the private sector is permitted to handle.
Posts minister Toranosuke Katayama opened the door for private delivery companies to snare a bigger share of the fast-growing market on July 4, when he told a Diet committee that certain kinds of direct mail will no longer be regarded as “personal letters.” Previously, such letters, which include direct mail and items like credit cards, could only be delivered by the state-operated postal system.
