Tag: Domestic

TNT (UK) blowing up book delivery deal

Posted by | Nov 15, 2007 | |

TNT has secured its first major venture into the wholesale book market by winning a distribution deal with the UK’s largest book wholesaler.

The three-year contract between TNT Express Services and Gardners Books will see the former collect and deliver about 13,000 cartons of books a week.

TNT, which employs 2,200 at its UK headquarters in Atherstone, will transport the books from Gardners headquarters in Eastbourne to book stores in England, Scotland and Wales.

The deal is part of a growing number in Dutch-owned TNT’s new Media and Entertainment division. Danny Geach, general manager, TNT Media and Entertainment, said: ‘Gardners is a long-standing and highly influential player in the independent book wholesaler market and we are delighted to have been chosen to help them further strengthen their supply chain.

‘We will be utilising our widespread expertise and knowledge to ensure the supply to retailers is the quickest and most efficient it could possibly be. It’s nice to know that we’ll be playing a small part in making sure the latest blockbuster novels, celebrity biographies and thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles are in stock as soon as they’re available.’

David Brewster, Customer Care Manager at Gardners Books, said: ‘All customers who at present get a Parcelforce delivery will be switched to TNT Express.’

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Business Post strikes new blow to Royal Mail with demand for split

Posted by | Nov 15, 2007 | |

One of Royal Mail’s rivals is to petition the Government to break up the state-owned postal group, in an escalation of pressure for change from its competitors.

Business Post made the call as sales at its mail division, which competes with Royal Mail, rose 59 per cent. The company argues that last month’s Royal Mail strikes have made more people aware that there is a competitive postal market.

Guy Buswell, Business Post’s chief executive, is to make a formal request to the Department for Business for Royal Mail’s network to be separated from its sales operation in January. By then it intends to produce a detailed paper with outside consultants.

Mr Buswell said: “The Government must be wondering what to do with Royal Mail. If the network were separated from sales, it would end the questions of what is Royal Mail’s future. We want to help start the debate.”

The call for change will come as the term of Allan Leighton as chairman draws to a close. The Government could use the change to make substantial changes. Rivals want the business to be split so that there is no conflict of interest between Royal Mail’s sales operation – their competitor – and its network, which they have to use for the final mile of the delivery of post.

The postal regulator is considering the implications but has no powers to order a split. Royal Mail may offer to present separate sets of accounts, but that is unlikely to satisfy its rivals.

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USPS new system will peg postal rate increases to inflation

Posted by | Nov 15, 2007 | |

The U.S. Postal Service today announced that postage costs for nonprofit and other mailers will be set using a new approach pegged to inflation.

The new system enables the Postal Service to increase postage rates
annually — more frequently than it has in the past — but requires the increases to be no higher than the rate of inflation. To determine inflation, postal officials said they will rely on the most recent monthly average compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Organizations that represent charities welcomed the news.

Previously, new rates were the result of a cumbersome process in which an independent body spent months in hearings, deliberating over research and comments submitted by charities and other organizations that send a large volume of mail. That process will no longer take place.

With the new system, nonprofit organizations are likely to see significantly lower postage increases than in the past, albeit more frequent ones. For example, postal officials noted that a recent monthly inflation average was 2.3 percent, much lower than the 6.7 average increase in postage for standard mail, the class of mail used by charities most frequently, that took place last spring.

While the law authorizing the new rate-making system requires the Postal Service to give a 45-day notice before postage costs go up, postal experts said that a longer notice is more likely, because the service and mailers need more time to adjust their mail-processing and printing schedules. Mr. Conway speculated that a 90-day notice is likely.

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USPS Rates Hikes Will Follow Reform Bill

Posted by | Nov 15, 2007 | |

It’s official that postal rate increases will follow the Postal Reform bill passed 11 months ago. The U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors announced that future price increases will be tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or rate of inflation, for mailing services that include First Class, Standard Mail, and periodicals.

The BOG said future prices would be adjusted using new regulations issued by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on Oct. 29. The board’s decision is consistent with the Postal Reform and Accountability Act, which calls for a rate-increase cap that ties future postage increases at or below the rate of inflation. It also has strict criteria regarding conditions for emergency rate increases.

Technically, the BOG could have filed one final rate case under the old regulations in place since 1971, but voted to proceed with the new pricing regulations. “We thank the Postal Regulatory Commission for completing the new rules eight months ahead of the statutory deadline,” Postmaster General John E. Potter said in a release. “This delivers one of the main goals of the new law for business mailers–a predictable price schedule.”

With the new pricing regulations, the Postal Service has more flexibility for shipping services, including bulk parcels and expedited package services such as Priority Mail and Express Mail. “We intend to use this new flexibility to grow our competitive business offering volume discounts and contract pricing,” Potter said. “There are still many details to be worked out, but we look forward to partnering with the PRC and our customers to maximize the advantages of the new pricing rules.”

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