Tag: Europe

EU clears UK to provide GBP 634 Million subsidy to Royal Mail unit

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

The European Commission cleared the U.K. government to provide a GBP 634 million subsidy to a unit of state postal carrier Royal Mail.

The subsidy will be paid out over a three-year period to Post Office Ltd. which operates 14,000 post offices in the U.K. The funds will cover the costs of the postal carrier’s loss-making operations, ensuring universal service across the country.

The commission for the past 15 years has been trying to dismantle postal- service monopolies in the European Union. Some freight services have been opened to greater competition, but basic letter carriage remains a closed market in most countries.

Last month, E.U. countries voted to delay full postal-service liberalization to 2011. The commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, had pushed for a 2009 deadline.

Under E.U. rules, state subsidies to businesses are legal only if they don’t distort competition. Since the Royal Mail is a legal monopoly, the commission reviewed its subsidy to ensure the money won’t unfairly subsidize services such as bill-payment and cash handling where Royal Mail competes with private-sector companies.

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Royal Mail confirm Industrial action harmed services this year

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

New figures released today by Royal Mail confirm that industrial action during the second quarter of 2007-08 damaged services for postal customers. 78.4 pct of First Class letters reached their destination the working day after posting, compared with an on-target performance of 93 pct in the first quarter of the year.

Royal Mail Marketing Director Alex Batchelor said, “We are very aware that our customers simply didn’t receive the service they deserve as a result of this year’s strike action by the Communication Workers Union – and we’re very sorry that they were let down.

“Customers are all too aware that strike action continued during the third quarter of the year which means that targets will also be missed for the autumn period. But this week’s vote in favour of our pay deal is good news for customers – it’s a green light for Royal Mail to invest in new technology and modernise our operations so that we can return to the record highs in quality of service reached in the last two years and build on that success for the future.”

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E-POST provides the opportunity of sending and receiving messages via INTERNET

Posted by | Nov 30, 2007 | |

E-POST provides 4 types of communication: ACCOUNT-ACCOUNT; ACCOUNT-POSTAL ADDREESS; PERSON-ACCOUNT; PERSON-POSTAL ADDRESS.

The ACCOUNT-ACCOUNT communication takes place between two account holders, meaning the electronic mailboxes. To send the message, the sender must go to the post office where his account is opened and fill in a form that the operator types in afterwards. The addressee must also go to the post office where his account is opened and request the printing of the messages received in his account against a fee. The tariff is charged according to number of words contained in the message.

Another type of communication is the one between a person, the sender, which has an account and the addressee that don’t. It’s the ACCOUNT-POSTAL ADDRESS communication. In this case, the sender does the same things as above with the only exception that the address is a postal one and the tariff charged. This communication supposes the printing of the message in the destination post office, insertion in the envelope and delivery at the postal address, and optionally, the registration and the electronic proof of delivery. In the destination post office (the closest one to the addressee’s location), prints the message, inserts it into an envelope and delivers it to the indicated address.

Another possible situation: the sender does not have an opened account, but the addressee has. In this case, the sender sends a message from an E-POST post office, by filling in a form indicating the account address of the addressee.

E-POST may be used even in the situation when neither the sender nor the addressee have an opened account. In this case, the sender must go to the E-POST office, fill in a form mentioning the addressee’s address and pay the charges for sending the message, printing, the envelope and delivery and optionally for registration and proof of delivery (AR)

E-POST is actually a hybrid mail service, aiming to meet the customers’ requirements. This service is a clear evidence of the Romanian Post’ endeavor to comply with present development conditions of the communication market

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Royal Mail fights back over zonal pricing plan

Posted by | Nov 29, 2007 | |

Royal Mail has mounted an aggressive defence of its proposed zonal pricing scheme, claiming Postcomm’s rejection of its original plan was ‘fundamentally flawed’.

The 44-page response comes five months after Postcomm threw out the first proposal (precisionmarketing.co.uk) but includes only a few minor amendments. Royal Mail is sticking to its guns – the main tenet of its argument is that increased competition in the postal market is allowing private operators to cherry-pick areas where it is cheaper, and therefore more profitable, to deliver mail.

It has put forward a strong legal argument, claiming Postcomm has not “undertaken a competition economics assessment of the application” and that its stance is “inconsistent with EU and UK competition law on discriminatory behaviour”. It continues: “This is a fundamental flaw in Postcomm’s consultation proposal which Royal Mail believes is legally incorrect.”

Under zonal pricing, brand-owners will pay more for deliveries of items in many rural and some urban areas. Royal Mail maintains that the move is in line with its aim to make its services ‘cost-reflective’.

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