Tag: Europe

MPs join fight to save post office in Blackpool

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

The fight to save Blackpool’s historic Crown post office has been stepped up with the town’s MPs fearing that vulnerable residents will be hit by the closure.

Plans were announced by Royal Mail last month to close the Abingdon Street office and transfer services to WH Smith in Bank Hey Street, as part of a nationwide cost-cutting initiative which will see 76 Crown Post Offices closed.
Both MPs for the town, Gordon Marsden and Joan Humble have signed a Commons motion, which has so far been supported by 30 MPs, calling for more consultation and expressing anger at the decision.

Mr Marsden has also written to the managing director of the Post Office, Alan Cook, seeking assurances about services and postal workers’ jobs.

In the letter, he states: “The Post Office provides a service to the most vulnerable people in Blackpool, the disabled, those claiming benefits, as well as the elderly and unemployed.

“What plans do you have to relocate the service counters with WH Smith, which has a far smaller surface area in my estimation and how will you ensure that elderly and disabled customers are able to use the new facilities easily?”
Mrs Humble said that there should be more much more debate before the decision is finalised.

She said: “I will be seeking information from the Royal Mail, the DTi and ministerial colleagues on the reasons behind it and the treatment of the staff who work there.

The Post Office has said the decision to outsource the service was made to cut financial losses which were GBP 70m last year.

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Largest parcel sorting terminal in the Baltic States opens in Latvia

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

On May 7th, a new parcel sorting terminal that belongs to DPD European network was officially opened in Riga. The terminal is the largest in the Baltic States with the total sorting area of 2900 sq. m. It is even 500 sq. m larger than last year opened Tallinn terminal.

Latvian parcel sorting terminal is situated in 4 kilometers from Riga’s city center. Total terminal territory is 9600 sq. m. There are 71 pick-up and distribution gates installed, and parcel sorting conveyor is 1 kilometer long. That is five times longer than in Tallinn which previously was called the longest.

“Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian small parcel delivery market usually is treated as one, Baltic country market. That is why the terminal, which is build in strategically convenient place, will increase technical capabilities not even in the country where it is build, but in the neighboring countries – Lithuania and Estonia. The maximum sorting capacity of new terminal is 6 000 parcels per hour or 140 000 parcels per day”, – says Vytautas Kudzys, Managing Director for the Baltic States.

According to him, the need of new terminals shows, that small parcel delivery services are used more often, and trust of companies providing these services is growing.

DPD Latvija turnover was 2,4 mln. Lats (3,4 mln. Eur) in 2006, it was by 69% more than in 2005.

DPD Latvija belongs to international parcel delivery network DPD, which is represented in Lithuania by DPD Lietuva, in Estonia – by DPD Eesti. The shares of these companies belong to French Post company GeoPost.

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British Heart Foundation calls pitch

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is holding a pitch for its fundraising direct marketing account, currently held by Target Direct Marketing.

The charity is the UK’s tenth largest charity direct mailer, spending GBP 2.7m on the medium in 2006.

The Foundation is currently at the chemistry stage and the client is close to drawing up a shortlist of prospective agencies.

Charlotte Guiver, head of supporter acquisition at the BHF, said: “After a number of years of collaboration with Target Direct Marketing, and with major development underway, the time was right to re-assess our agency needs. We are looking to work with an agency who consistently demonstrates a fresh and innovative approach in engaging new and existing supporters.”

The project is being overseen by consultant Allan Freeman of Freestyle Marketing.

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Austrian Post entering Hungarian Parcel & Logistics market

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

Austrian Post acquires 100% of the shares of Road Parcel Logistics Services Kft and Merland Expressz Logistics Services Kft
Already being present in the Huingarian Mail Market, Austrian Post has now created foothold also in the Hungarian Parcel & Logistics business
„feibra Hungary“, a 100% subsidiary of Austrian Post, has been present in the Hungarian Mail and Direct Mailing market already since 2005. By taking over Road Parcel Logistics Services Kft and Merland Expressz Logistics Services Kft, Austrian Post has extended its presence to the Parcel & Logistics business.

The Road Parcel brand was launched in 1997 and offers a country wide network for door-to-door parcel logistics in Hungary. The brand Merland Expressz was introduced in 2002 with a focus on groupage and pallets.

Road Parcel Logistics Services Kft and Merland Expressz Logistics Services Kft will account for a total revenue of 7.5 Mio EUR in 2007 and more than 1 Mio shipments, which positions them as a number two in the Hungarian B2B Parcel & Logistics market.

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Call to keep unviable post offices open

Posted by | May 7, 2007 | |

Post offices which are economically unviable should be kept open because of the important social role they play, especially in rural Ireland, a conference was told at the weekend.

Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) general secretary John Kane told the union’s annual conference in Dublin that there was a “very justifiable case” for the provision of payments to post offices, through a public service obligation.
Giving public service obligation status to post offices of a certain size would allow the State to provide funding for them without breaching EU law.
More than 400 sub-post offices have closed since the start of the decade and a review of the remaining network of 1,300 outlets is being carried out by An Post.

“Even the simple opportunity of being able to talk to another human being at the local post office, the local shop or the GAA club may make all the difference as to how a person copes with a crisis in their lives,” Mr Kane said.

“The IPU is calling on the incoming government, irrespective of its political make-up, to agree the principle that a public service obligation payment be put in place in order to ensure the survival of much of the existing post office network.”

Mr Kane said the Government was responsible for 70 per cent of post office business and any incoming government needed to make a “principled decision” to support the network.

He told conference delegates that postmasters needed certainty as to what services they would provide in the future and An Post needed to show “a lot more realism” as to the costs involved in running a post office.

According to the IPU, some of its members are earning as little as euro 8,000 a year.

It says the average yearly income for sub-post office owners is euro 16,000.
The conference at Moran’s Red Cow Hotel in Dublin was also told that the loss of the social welfare contract, worth in excess of euro 50 million annually to An Post, would have serious repercussions for the whole network.

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