Tag: Europe

Royal Mail loses contract with Amazon

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Royal Mail today confirmed that online retailer Amazon has decided it will move its Second Class mailings, worth £8m, from Royal Mail.

Royal Mail said, “We’re very proud to work with Amazon and the loss of such a significant piece of their business demonstrates very clearly that Royal Mail’s higher costs, directly caused by our failure to fully modernise our operations, are costing us business. It’s vital that we urgently change and modernise if we are to be able to compete against more efficient rivals who have already done so.

“At the same time our customers are being threatened with disruption because of strikes – strikes which are aimed at preventing exactly the modernisation that could keep our big customers on board.

“Customers like Amazon are critical to us, and to our competitors. They represent an important area of growth in a market which is otherwise declining as fewer items of mail are sent.”

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La Poste launches “Holiday Pack”

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Due for the start of the holiday season in France, La Poste has launched new products for the summer.

The Holiday Pack includes:

• Post lockers from 1 day to 2 months, depending on the absence period.
• Pack of special discounts with 7 companies in different services e.g. renting a car, sport and traveling magazines etc.

The ‘Holiday Pack’ is available in all post offices with a unique cost of €18.

La Poste has also launched a new set of seasonal stamps which are available in a 10 stamp box. The stamps are also available on-line.

Postal cards are delivered through MMS – (a service which is part of the agreement with Orange SFR). The customer can send through MMS a picture from the mobile plus the message to be included and the address of the recipient. La Poste will print and delivery the post card physically.

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Deutsche Post to open 600 new retail outlets In Germany

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Starting this autumn, Deutsche Post will open some 600 new retail outlets throughout Germany, thereby boosting the size of its network to over 13,000 locations. By the end of the year, the company will have expanded its Postpoint pilot project to the whole of Germany. Trials of this new type of retail outlet have until now been limited to the cities of Dortmund and Bonn.

Postpoints satisfy the daily requirements of private households and can handle small and large parcels as well as letter mail. In addition to stamps and Paketmarke prepaid parcel stamps, customers will also be able to purchase prepaid envelopes, response cards and small parcels (Plusbrief, Pluskarte and Pluspäckchen). Postpoint customers can also use our registered mail, redirection and storage services, as well as find out about our products and prices. Postpoints are run by Deutsche Post in collaboration with trusted retail partners. By providing a service during normal shop opening hours, Deutsche Post is placing the customer at the heart of its business.

The trial of this new approach is one of the initiatives launched under the worldwide quality program announced last year: “First Choice” aims to ensure that the Group cements its position as the preferred provider for its customers.

The actual locations of the new Postpoints are expected to be decided and announced in September, as soon as negotiations with our retail partners have been completed.

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An Post: results of its quarterly report on the quality of service performance

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the postal industry in Ireland, today published the results of its quarterly independent report on the Quality of Service performance of An Post.

The report shows that 78% of single piece priority mail (standard correspondence) was delivered within one working day throughout the State against a target of 94%.

This represents a 4% increase in service quality performance during the same period in 2006, albeit well short of the quality of service target set by ComReg.

It was also found that 79% of mail posted in Dublin for nationwide delivery is reported as delivered the next working day, while 76% of mail posted outside Dublin for delivery throughout the State is delivered within one working day of posting.

Mail posted outside of Dublin for next day delivery in Dublin recorded a 72% success rate, while mail posted outside of Dublin for local delivery recorded a success rate of 81%.

Finally, the report found that 98% of all mail was delivered within 3 working days – still short of the 99.5% performance target set by ComReg.

The survey is undertaken independently of postal operators. The survey is based on the statistical methods set out by the European Standards Institute (CEN) and is mandated by the European Commission.

In accordance with the CEN standard, bulk mail is not included. The survey is conducted by TNS mrbi and is independently audited.

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Liberal Democrats support for preservation of Universal Service Obligation

Posted by | Jun 18, 2007 | |

Lib Dem MP Robert Smith voices Lib Dem support for preservation of Universal Service Obligation at debate at Westminster Hall.

Speaking on a Lib Dem motion of the Universal Service Obligation in Westminster Hall, MP Alistair Carmichael pointed out the importance of a debate on Universal Service Obligation “following the recent application by the Royal Mail for zonal pricing for bulk mail, on which consultation with Postcomm has just concluded.”

Mr Carmichael expressed his concern that if Royal Mail’s application for zonal charging for bulk mail is approved, bulk mail will be removed from the universal service.

He suggested: “What is left will hardly be worth the name. It will hardly be universal and it will barely be a service.”

Lib Dem MP Danny Alexander also expressed his concern that the government, and Postcomm, are pressing ahead with the opening up of the mail market without first ensuring that there are adequate safeguards in place to protect the universal service.

Lib Dem Sir Robert Smith, speaking for the Liberal Democrats, made clear that “the present situation has come about because of the opening up of the letter market, which was the result of European Union regulations and the decision to open up the whole of the European market-albeit not at the pace that it is happening in the UK.”

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