Tag: Europe

PalletFORCE holds publicity drive for drivers

Posted by | Sep 21, 2007 | |

PalletFORCE held a Drivers’ Night at the Company’s Lichfield hub on the night of Tuesday 24th July, to help build publicity and awareness for the Network’s sponsored charity, The Anthony Nolan Trust.

The Anthony Nolan Trust provides lifesaving donors for leukaemia patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. Maintaining the UK’s most successful bone marrow register, since 1974 the Trust has helped to give over 4,000 children and adults a new chance of life.

PalletFORCE became aware of the Trust’s work through the work of Jim McLay, the late Depot Principal at Glenhire. Jim was suffering from a type of blood cancer which could only be cured by a bone marrow transplant from a matching donor and he became a staunch ambassador for the charity before his death, with two Glenhire trailers boasting the Trust’s livery.

Representatives from the charity were on hand to explain their work and to recruit drivers to become donors. DAF also lent its support, providing a hospitality unit with refreshments as well as examples from its vehicle range for drivers to take a look at.

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Royal Mail bosses to axe 2,000 jobs

Posted by | Sep 21, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is to axe two huge sorting offices with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs.
Management started briefing staff at the Oxford and Reading mail centers on the radical changes last night.
The GBP 20million shake-up will be seen as hugely controversial as the plan has not been agreed with union leaders.
A senior CWU source said: “This is another example of management driving through unagreed changes and running down the service.” The Reading and Gloucester sites were on an original hit list drawn up by management but a big campaign to save the latter appears to have worked.
Bosses now want to transfer work from Oxford and Reading to a hi-tech mail centre at Swindon by 2009.
Royal Mail claims the changes will help it compete.

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Customers like doing business with Swiss Post

Posted by | Sep 21, 2007 | |

The scores for private and business customers either rose slightly or stabilized at the previous year’s already high level in all Group units. This was the result of the annual survey of Swiss Post’s customers. Swiss Post continues to attach great importance to customer-focused products and services and adapts them to the changing needs of business and the public. It is also expanding its range of products and services for business customers: for instance the new Strategic Customers & Solutions Group unit will commence operations on 1 October. This unit will comprise various subsidiaries and departments of Swiss Post and group their innovative strengths to create new customer solutions.

The results of this ninth survey were positive. The overall index for Swiss Post as a whole and for both private and business customers remained at a high level of 79 out of 100 points. Swiss Post is satisfied with these scores. Swiss Post best meets expectations in terms of support and advice. Customers are also very satisfied with access to postal services and with the company’s nationwide presence. The score in this area increased significantly.

The figures for private customers, who account for around 15 percent of Swiss Post’s sales, are still high. PostFinance, PostBus and Philately maintained their good scores or even improved them slightly, while there was a significant increase in the score for post offices to a new record high (see table at end of the document). Swiss Post has greatly improved its customer focus and has adapted to changing customer needs with innovative products. The Swiss therefore enjoy purchasing services from Swiss Post.

For the first year in which all logistics services were offered from a single source PostLogistics received an excellent score of 79 points. In 2007 – compared with the previous year – the level of satisfaction among business customers at PostMail rose substantially. Swiss Post is pleased with the continued improvement in business customer sastisfaction, as the letters market is due to be opened up further to competition in the next few years, in accordance with the Federal Council’s plans. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also more satisfied with the services of the post offices. The increase in both areas was significant in statistical terms.

Around 10,000 business and 20,000 private customers from the various units of Swiss Post took part in the survey, which was conducted between April and July 2007. The results were evaluated by the independent institute Trustmark.

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Analytiqa Logistics Bulletin: Friday 21st September

Posted by | Sep 21, 2007 | |

This week’s Logistics Bulletin reports on a number of mergers and acquisitions from logistics service providers, with a focus on the US. Mainfreight, of New Zealand, has announced an agreement to acquire Target Logistics; French-based SDV International Logistics is acquiring Pro-service whilst xpedx and Geodis have forged a new strategic alliance.

Wincanton maintains new business momentum

Wincanton has issued a pre-close season trading update for the six months ending 30th September 2007. The Company reported that the strong new business momentum reported in its last financial year has been sustained in the first half of the current year.
New business momentum also continues to build in Wincanton s Mainland European operations with contract gains in all countries. Additional business, into transport networks and warehousing facilities, included wins with Exxon and Alcatel in Germany, Jardiland, Velux and EDF in France, and Auchan, Electrolux and OBI in Poland. The Company s international transport hub in The Netherlands added new business with Akzo and Ciba-Geigy.

Given the continuing high levels of new business activity across the Group, Wincanton currently anticipates that results for the full year will be in line with management expectations.

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British e-commerce websites lack contact and delivery information

Posted by | Sep 21, 2007 | |

British online retailers lack comprehensive contact details and a limited choice of delivery options, according to new research by web monitoring company, NetExtract.

Of the 10,000 or so British e-commerce sites, analyzed by NetExtract, 60 percent failed to provide a contact telephone number anywhere on the website.

An address to indicate the location of the business was absent in 43 percent of websites and 39 percent didn’t provide an email address. Incredibly, almost one in three websites listed neither telephone nor email contact details. Customers are less likely to buy from a company that is secretive about it’s location and communication routes.

NetExtract’s Managing Director, Thomas Roberts, stated that consumers need reassurance before they will purchase from a website. “This analysis has highlighted that many online retailers can help further reduce the fears of potential customers by offering multiple contact channels, delivery options and adding testimonials from current customers to their site,” he said.

British online retailers also offered a poor selection of delivery options, found the research, and of all the delivery companies named on websites, Royal Mail accounted for just 17 percent. When it came to providing free delivery or postage, just 11 percent offered this service and just 15 percent offered Special Delivery or next day options.

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