Tag: Europe

Royal Mail offers ‘green’ discount (UK)

Royal Mail’s wholesale division is launching a new service that gives its customers a discounted price for direct mail campaigns that meet criteria designed to reduce their environmental impact.
To qualify for discounts of up to 0.7 pence per item on downstream access prices, businesses will have to meet a range of standards to reduce unnecessary direct mail production through improved use of data services, including suppression of addressees who do not wish to receive direct mail. The responsible sourcing of materials and action to encourage the recycling of the mail piece also form part of the scheme’s specification.
The new service is based on two levels of participation – entry level receives a price discount of 0.3 pence per item, while companies who meet the intermediate criteria receive an additional 0.4 pence per item reduction.
Royal Mail has also identified further criteria that it will consider implementing as a third phase, benefiting the most advanced direct mail users through further discounts. The full specification can be found on Royal Mail Wholesale’s website at royalmailwholesale.com

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FedEx Office cuts 650 workers

FedEx Office is cutting 650 jobs worldwide, as the company plans to shut FedEx Kinko’s stores in the USA, Australia, the Netherlands and Mexico. Australia has arguably been the hardest hit, with approximately 200 jobs set to go in the US, and 250 Australian jobs making up the 450 jobs likely to be cut outside the US. Likewise, 17 stores in total will be closed outside the US, 11 of these in Australia.

A formal date for these closures is yet to be set, though the company says it is aiming to have them all done by May 31st, the end of the US financial year.

The company rejected the notion that the decision was made in light of this week’s stock market plunge which has signaled a global economic downturn.

Robertson claims the company didn’t take the decision lightly, and canvassed a variety of options before settling on a pull-out.

With roughly 250 employees on its books in Australia, the company says it is hoping to find positions for some of them in other areas of the FedEx corporation.

It’s likely that most of the closures will be staggered over the coming months, as the company assesses the matter on a store-by-store basis.

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Itella Logistics expands its consumer parcel operations in Estonia

Itella Logistics uses SmartPost’s parcel automates as drop off points for consumers in Estonia

Itella has signed an agreement with SmartPost to use their automated parcel terminal network of 20 machines in Estonia as drop-off points to consumer parcels. Itella will be responsible for parcel handling, sorting and transportation to machines by using its own couriers. Co-operation starts in November with selected distance selling customers.

– Our automated parcel terminals provide convenient and fast way for consumers to pick-up their parcels. SmartPost has established its delivery network and we are ready to provide this service for Itella, says Indrek Oolup, Managing Director of SmartPost Ou.

– For Itella as service logistics provider it is important that we are able to provide alternatives for consumers. We achieved excellent results from our automated parcel terminal trial held in Tallinn and Helsinki. Based on that we believe that this new way of delivering parcels is interesting for our corporate clients and improves the service for Estonian consumers, says Aku Happo, Itella Express and Parcel Business Director.

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Vendors announced for Royal Mail mobile project

Royal Mail has announced the suppliers for its national mobile service project which will see 25,000 postal delivery workers equipped with handheld devices.
As reported by Computing in July, the introduction of the devices is part of a GBP 1.2bn IT-driven business transformation at Royal Mail designed to improve customer service by verifying the status of tracked letters or parcels.
The handheld devices are being supplied by Intermec, while CSC will develop and maintain the systems supporting the service. The CSC team also includes Blackbay, a provider of mobile workforce systems.
Royal Mail van drivers will be able to capture signatures at the point of delivery, eliminating the current paper-based processes.
Some 70,000 staff who delivers items by foot or bicycle will continue using a paper-based system to record signatures and delivery times, but the devices will roll out to all postal delivery workers in the future.
Trials for the handheld computers began late last year.

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Royal Mail hits TV screens with new campaign (UK)

Royal Mail is to change the focus of its marketing and communications from the consumer sector toward businesses, partly to remind big companies that it still exists, but, more significantly, to position the brand as the postal operator of choice for small and medium-sized firms.
This repositioning will begin this month with a ‘Partners for Growth’ campaign targeting the UK’s 4.3m SMEs. An above-the-line push, by ad agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, will comprise TV, press, direct and digital activity.
The drive will direct prospective customers to a 15-step online questionnaire that asks respondents about their business needs. Within two hours, those who have completed the survey will receive a personalised ‘growth pack’ containing information about how Royal Mail can help them. The idea is to publicise some of the brand’s lesser-known business services, including data provision and media consultancy.

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