Tag: Europe

Royal Mail price proposals ''could boost direct marketing''

Posted by | Mar 1, 2007 | |

Proposals from Royal Mail to give it greater control over the prices it charges could see greater amounts of direct marketing being delivered, a leading economist has said.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Ian Senior said a bid by Royal Mail to increase domestic postal charges and reduce business post charges could see marketers being able to afford more direct mail shots.

Prices are currently set until 2010, but company´s chief executive Adam Crozier is pushing regulator Postcomm to completely deregulate charges.

“I think it would have an impact on direct marketing because it is all about trying to keep costs down. If the cost goes down by one or two pence per item, then the volume could go up,” Mr Senior told the Telegraph.

“If prices fall, it is possible that the Royal Mail will get a bigger market share of direct marketing, but it doesn´t mean that the volume will go up,” added a spokesperson from the Direct Marketing Association.

Royal Mail claims that falling profits on business post is forcing it to seek changes to current fees, as it says it must both be more competitive in this area and charge more from domestic customers.

The regulated postal service still controls virtually all the mail delivered in Britain.

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Sandd strengthens position in Dutch market

Posted by | Feb 28, 2007 | |

On Feb. 20 Sandd, the second largest postal business in the Netherlands, behind TNT, announced a turnover growth in 2006 of almost 40% (Euro 68 million), when compared to 2005. From 80 distribution centres and with 10,500 staff, Sandd processed over 320 million items of post for approximately 1,500 customers. As a result its market share in the liberalised sector of the postal market has grown to 12%, representing a gain of 4% when compared to the previous year. Sandd saw its volume of delivered items grow from 230 million items in 2005 to 320 million in 2006.

For 2007 Sandd expects a further volume increase of 35% increasing its total volume to 430 million items of post. This will expand its market share to 16%. The expectation is that turnover in 2007 will finish up at around euro 85 million.

Sandd’s aim is to have a market share of 20-25% by 2011.

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Royal Mail’s first class service to customers

Posted by | Feb 28, 2007 | |

Royal Mail’s latest independent performance report shows postmen and women are continuing to deliver target-beating service to customers.

From April to the beginning of December 2006, stamped First Class mail beat its 93.0% target with 94.1% arriving the next working day, while Second Class mail also beat its 98.5% target, with a 99.0% performance over the same period.

Mail services used by larger businesses also exceeded their targets during the first three quarters of the 2006-07 financial year. These included Royal Mail’s Mailsort bulk business mail services, Printed Postage Impression (PPI) items, and the Presstream service for magazine mailings.

Royal Mail’s Standard Parcel service recorded a performance of 94.6% between April and the beginning of December 2006 – well above its 90.0% target. Special Delivery met its 99.0% target over the same period.

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'Interim increase' pushes stamp up to 55c

Posted by | Feb 28, 2007 | |

The price of a stamp will rise by 7c tomorrow, and the bad news for consumers is that a further hike is also on the way.

A regular stamp is going up from 48c to 55c in what An Post dubbed an “interim increase” to be followed by another one in 2008. Tomorrow’s price hike was the first since 2003, and the company will seek another price rise next year to improve the quality of service, such as next-day delivery rates, a spokesperson said.

The regulator ComReg has ordered An Post to supply full accounting details of its services later this year and to review its prices based on that data.

ComReg said tomorrow’s price increases were less than the rate of inflation, as prices generally had increased by 11pc since the last stamp price increase in August 2003.

From tomorrow, letters up to 100g will be covered by the 55c rate – previously the standard charge only applied up to a limit of 50g, so the cost of posting an item between 50 and 100g will fall from 60c to 55c.

Discount

Business customers will receive a discount of 1c per item when they use meter franking machines or the permit system, making the cost of posting a standard letter 54c.

An Post said that they had been faced with significant cost increases since the last postal hike, as their wage bill alone had increased by 20m because of national partnership wage increases, while fuel costs had also soared.

The company is also facing the threat of having their most lucrative business cherrypicked away from them when postal services across Europe are liberalised in 2009.

The measures announced recently by EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will be debated at a seminar in Dublin tomorrow – organised by postal trade unions, with Communications Minister Noel Dempsey highlighting the challenges this will bring.

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Magyar Posta shuts down further 66 post offices

Posted by | Feb 27, 2007 | |

Hungary’s state-owned postal company Magyar Posta will close a further 66 post offices in Budapest and other cities around the country on Thursday, spokeswoman Katalin Szasz told MTI on Tuesday. The closures will come just a few weeks after Magyar Posta shut down 38 post offices.

The closures are the second and last phase of a streamlining programme which is expected to save Magyar Posta more than HUF 500m a year, Magyar Posta spokesman CEO Tamas Tomecsko said earlier in February.

Mr Tomecsko said the post offices were closed in areas which had too much coverage compared to that stipulated under law. The law requires one post office for every community with more than 20,000 residents, he said, adding that the 169 post offices in Budapest are about twice the necessary number, considering this requirement.

The closures are part of an efficiency improvement programme started years earlier intended to prepare Magyar Posta for the full deregulation of the market in 2009.

Mr Tomecsko said Magyar Posta plans no further closures in the course of the year.

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