Tag: Europe

Consumers flood DMA with mail opt-out requests

Posted by | Sep 6, 2006 | |

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has received 100,210 requests from consumers to be added to the Mailing Preference Service (MPS), in the wake of last Monday’s news that Royal Mail had suspended a postman for encouraging people to opt out of door-drop deliveries.

This 3.5% increase in direct mail refuseniks takes the number of people signed up to the MPS to more than 3m. The most powerful catalyst spurring people to contact the DMA proved to be GMTV’s coverage of the issue on ITV last Friday, which prompted 31,000 consumers to opt out of direct mail deliveries.

A Royal Mail spokesman would not reveal how many requests it had received from consumers wanting to opt out of unaddressed door-drops, but it is believed that Royal Mail’s website crashed at one point because of the volume of consumers looking for information on door-drops. ‘We operate entirely separately from the DMA,’ said the spokesman. ‘There is no reason why we should publicise those numbers’.

He added that Royal Mail’s website had always had details of how to opt out of door-drops, but accepted that it had not proactively publicised the option.

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DHL introduces first mailbox for parcels

Posted by | Sep 5, 2006 | |

Starting today, DHL is introducing 40 Paketboxes in and around Frankfurt/Main. Here, customers can drop off their postage-paid small packages and parcels up to 20 kilograms around the clock without having to register beforehand.

The yellow Paketboxes, about one-and-a-half-meters high, can be found in heavily frequented locations and represent an additional service from the Post subsidiary that customers can use independently from retail outlet business hours. After a successful test phase, the Paketboxes will be introduced across the country.

“With the Paketbox, we are expanding the service for our private customers with an interesting alternative and demonstrate once again why DHL is the leader in the express and logistics market,” said Boris Mayer, marketing manager for private customer business at the Post subsidiary DHL Express Germany.

DHL is introducing 40 Paketboxes in and around Frankfurt/Main
The Paketboxes accept small packages and parcels up to 60 x 40 x 40 centimeters in size and will be emptied once a day Monday through Saturday – if necessary, even several times a day.

“The new boxes are not competing with the Packstations,” Mayer emphasized. Customers can not only deposit their shipments 24 hours a day at over 700 Packstations across the country, they can also pick up their shipments there and buy postage for small packages and parcels as well.

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TNT Logistics UK To Manage Home Delivery Services for Tesco Direct

Posted by | Sep 5, 2006 | |

TNT Logistics UK, a unit of Dutch mail and express deliveries group TNT NV, will manage the home delivery services of the recently launched Tesco Direct business of UK retailer Tesco Plc., TNT said on September 5, 2006.

Financial aspects of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the five-year contract between the two companies, TNT will run Tesco’s logistics operations from the new National Distribution Centre in Crewe, in the UK. TNT will also use six home delivery platforms between Glasgow and Exeter.

A total of 200 employees of TNT will be responsible for Tesco Direct home delivery.

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Belgium's La Poste Purchases Oxygen's Electric Scooters

Posted by | Sep 5, 2006 | |

De Post-La Poste, the national postal company of Belgium, and Oxygen, an Italian manufacturer of light electric vehicles, have signed a two-year contract for the supply of electric scooters. The first set of 50 Oxygen scooters will be tested by the Belgian post operator over the next six months, after which La Poste will decide on the further integration of the “Postscooter” within the La Poste fleet. The Postscooter will enable the fleet of La Poste to deliver mail door-to-door on a daily basis (currently about a 5,000-scooter fleet).

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TNT Post moves closer to 'final mile' delivery service

Posted by | Sep 5, 2006 | |

TNT Post’s development of a final mile delivery service is one step nearer after Postcomm’s decision last month to open a consultation into mail-redirection services for the competitive postal market.

The aim of Postcomm’s consultation is to pre-empt any problems if Royal Mail’s rivals introduce mail redirection. Issues will include data protection, and the logistics and financial implications of sharing data.

TNT confirmed developments had been made regarding the launch of a final mile service in Scotland and Manchester, with local offices opening there.

“We welcome Postcomm’s consultation and it is important for us, as new operators, that we can operate on a level playing field,” said David Higham, divisional MD for TNT Post’s access business. “Our customers expect us to be able to redirect their customer’s mail, particularly if we offer end-to-end services.”

While Royal Mail welcomed the consultation, a spokesman said its main priority was the protection of customer data.

According to Bill Wallis, marketing manager at Business Post, parent company of UK Mail, the consultation will have little affect on businesses not planning to offer an end-to-end service. “We have no plans at this stage, and none foreseeable in future, to become an end-to-end operator. For the time being, Royal Mail’s redirection service works for us.”

Postcomm estimates that 1.3 million homes and firms use Royal Mail redirection.

The consultation closes on 31 October.

Last month, Postcomm announced a strategy review on whether Royal Mail meets the needs of customers, which is due to close on 6 November.

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