Post Danmark H1 2006
Post Danmark Annual Report H1 2006
Read MoreTag: Europe
UPS in Wroclaw
UPS – one of the world’s biggest couriers – is to move their financial-accounting centre from the London area to Wroclaw. The US company is investing USD 20 mln in the city and will employ nearly 500 people.
The centre will probably be located in an existing building in the city and start to operate in Q1 of 2007. Apart from Wroclaw, other locations were considered: Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia as well as other Polish cities, including Gdansk, Krakow, Katowice and Poznan.
Amongst the factors behind the firm’s decision to locate in Wroclaw were the city’s reputation for producing well-educated science graduates and the low cost of labour. The centre is UPS’s second Polish investment, after they bought out one of the country’s largest couriers – MS Stolica – for PLN 380 mln last year.
Read MoreDHL to offer a new Express Freight service
DHL, the world leader in express delivery and logistics, offers a new Express Freight service.International, door-to-door delivery within 5-7 working days for parcels or pallets, weighing from 70 kg to 2500 kg.
DHL Express Freight offers the convenience of Express with the strength of Freight, whether it’s regular stock sent to a retailer or dealing with an unexpected heavy load. The transportation process is simplified, with no need to collect invoices from different companies and in different currencies. Standard DHL tariffs based on a zoning structure (depending on the destination country location) are applied to this type of service. Door-to-door delivery allows the customer to reduce costs for the goods’ storage. At DHL there are no hidden costs, you have control of the transportation process and full tracking visibility. DHL provides customs clearance for goods with tan assessed value of up to USD 1000 on a free of charge basis.
Transit times for the Express Freight service are 3-4 days longer than that for the standard end of business day (1800 hours) service.
Read MoreDirect mailers adjust to PiP's 'restrictive' rules
Clients are getting to grips with Royal Mail’s new mail pricing regime, pricing in proportion (PiP), as the industry enters its first full month under the new rules, but remain concerned about their effect on creativity.
Speaking to Marketing Direct just before size-based pricing was introduced, industry figures said that despite months of preparation, their main concern was the standardisation of mail packs and the prospect of lower response rates.
Andrew Jones, head of direct marketing at the Royal British Legion, said the changes posed a creative and financial challenge. The charity’s annual Remembrance Cross mailing is now classed as a larger letter owing to its thickness.
“We know it works well so we’ve just had to accept the increase in price,” said Jones. “It’s a small increase per pack but, when you’re working with charity direct mail, every cost is important.” He added that the extra postage costs would eat into the legion’s income.
Iain Clarke, creative services director at Hicklin Slade & Partners, whose clients include Honda, said the new pricing formats would restrict creativity. Honda’s standard welcome pack, for example, is currently mailed in a large box. Clarke said that if another one is produced, it is likely to use a new format.
“Honda’s creative philosophy is ‘the power of dreams’, which is about doing what others wouldn’t do. PiP seems to fly in the face of that,” Clarke said.
Royal Mail is promoting the changes as a creative opportunity. According to Antony Miller, head of media development at Royal Mail, PiP brings mail into line with other media, citing 20-second TV spots and newspaper pages as constraints that other industries work within successfully.
“You can have any shape within the (new) boundaries, in the same way you can within other media,” he said.
Read MorePressure on government over postal cuts
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is facing calls to look again at controversial plans to cut subsidies to the post office network.
A cross party coalition of Norfolk county councillors from all four political groups is today set to lobby central government on the issue amid fears about the survival prospects of the rural network if the so-called Social Network Subsidy is cut.
Councillors believe that a string of decisions including withdrawing the Post Office Account card, TV savings stamps coupled with closures and the possible increase in business postage charges in rural areas raise “serious uncertainties” about the future of the service and its funding.
Ironically, it comes as the county council switches its postal deliveries from Royal Mail to TNT in a deal which will save the authority GBP 200,000 a year.
The deal was secured during an online auction and could pave the way for similar saving by other councils.
The county council sends around four million letters a year and its corporate procurement unit will be working closely with TNT to ensure a smooth transition over the next couple of months as the contract gets up and running.
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