Tag: Domestic

DHL (UAE) gives more rewards to loyal customers with enhanced Altitude program

Posted by | Sep 10, 2007 | |

DHL customers using the company’s express services will now get more rewards with Altitude, the newly-enhanced customer loyalty program.

DHL UAE Marketing Manager Elliott Santon commented: With Altitude all our loyal customers will now be rewarded for every dirham they spend on DHL’s products and services. Previously, customers who registered under the program were rewarded on parcel shipments only. It will now be across the complete DHL product range.

Enrolling in the Altitude program is free upon opening an account with DHL. Altitude members can either redeem their points at any of the program rewarding partners like City Centre in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, or donate the equivalent amount to non-governmental organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Dubai Centre for Special Needs (DCSN) of Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF).

DHL’s customer loyalty program was launched in 2003. Two years after it won the prestigious Gulf Marketing Review’s Loyalty Program of the Year award.

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Parcels Losing Weight

Posted by | Sep 10, 2007 | |

It’s nearly two-thirds into 2007 and shippers are still trying to get a handle on how to handle dimensional rate pricing for parcel shipments.

UPS announced the plan late last year and rolled it out in January, granting some shippers waivers that have just ended. FedEx, DHL and even the U.S. Postal Service soon followed suit.

Dimensional pricing is likely to further fade the line between air express and ground parcel service. The new metric also could affect trucking operations and alter freight classification standards as the express and parcel carriers look to bring the disciplines of that side of the business into their growing less-than-truckload subsidiaries.

Whether they take a dim view of the changes or not, shippers are already adjusting their shipping patterns to pare down what could be large cost increases under older standards.

UPS contends dimensional costing offers shippers something they’ve clamored for – a simpler pricing method. Dim-weight pricing, the company says, more accurately reflects the true costs for handling and delivery.

Some industry analysts say the impact of the new pricing standard has yet to be fully felt.

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Cabinet approves sale of Maltapost shares to Lombard Bank

Posted by | Sep 10, 2007 | |

The Cabinet yesterday approved the implementation of the second of three stages in the privatisation of Maltapost, which is the transfer of 25 per cent of the Government’s shareholding to Redbox Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lombard Bank plc. As a result of this transfer Lombard Bank plc will effectively become the majority shareholder in Maltapost plc with 60 pct of the shares.

Government said the agreed price for the shares was Lm 1,217,585 (EUR2,836,210). This represented a 50 per cent premium over the net asset value of the shares based on the last audited accounts of the company. Based on the average profits of Maltapost in the past three years, the price represents a price to earnings ratio of 68. So, apart from believing that this step was strategically important for the company, Government also believes that the agreed price is an advantageous one.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal by Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt that Maltapost plc should be fully privatized.

Government shall, in the coming months, initiate the process for selling the remaining 40 per cent of its shares via an Initial Public Offering on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Government believes it should not operate in commercial areas which are best left to the private sector.

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Royal Mail Talks End – No Agreement

Posted by | Sep 10, 2007 | |

As private talks between the CWU and Royal Mail officials come to an end, somewhat unexpectedly, no deal has been reached.

Royal Mail saw significant losses this year after many of its large customers moved their sorting requirements to rival mail handlers, and the losses look set to continue as Royal Mail is left effectively holding the baby – the Universal Service Agreement, Britain’s backbone final mile postal deliveries.

More disturbing perhaps is that whilst Royal Mail struggles to stand its ground after mail liberalization was effectively bulldozed through, there seems to be a hardcore of postal workers that are convinced that working to their times (a more acceptable way of saying ‘work to rule’) will see some divine presence appear from the blackness (presumably in the shape of Gordon Brown) and save them all.

The CWU have lost the battle so far and no amount of strikes or working to rule are likely save jobs or see any big pay rises in a business that is seeing large chunks of its most profitable work eaten up by rivals. It either works smarter and more efficiently or it fails. The likelihood of Royal Mail being broken up to maintain the Universal Service and allow Royal Mail to compete for business mail seems greater than ever.

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Royal Mail and CWU push back talks deadline

Posted by | Sep 10, 2007 | |

The direct mail industry is on tenterhooks, following the extension of the 4 September deadline for talks between the Communication Workers Union (CWU) strike and Royal Mail.

Following four weeks of talks, in which strike action was suspended, this recent round of negotiations has been given until 9 September to broker a deal.

The extension until Sunday will then be followed by a further meeting on Monday. Neither party is commenting on the progress of the talks until then.

CWU campaign manager John Colbert told printweek.com: “There is a complete communications ban concerning these talks until Monday at the earliest.”

This summer’s strike action was a response to the Royal Mail’s modernisation plan and disrupted mail deliveries across the country and further action will cause more misery to direct mail companies.

The CWU claims Royal Mail’s plans will result in a permanent reduction in customer services and is an attack on postal workers’ jobs, pay and conditions.

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