Tag: Europe

EU holds sway over UK post office funds

Posted by | Jan 13, 2007 | |

Bridgwater’s MP Ian Liddell-Grainger stated in the January 6 issue of the Bridgwater Times that he hopes to clarify the situation regarding post office closures and is mystified as to why post offices need to be closed when there is an annual rural grant of GBP150 million.

The right to give state aid was signed away by the British Government to the EU and now permission has to be sought from that body before the Government can give aid – the post office being a prime example of this state of affairs.

The permission for the subsidy was initially granted by the EU for three years and the present subsidy finishes in 2008.

The EU has not agreed to an extension.

The plight of post offices has been exacerbated by the withdrawal of such services as the sale of TV licences, as well as pressure on pensioners to make alternative arrangements for receiving their pensions.

The sum of GBP150 million is set with no adjustment for inflation.

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The European Mail Manifesto: growth, partnership and innovation in a changing industry

Posted by | Jan 12, 2007 | |

The Postal Users Group has issued a manifesto on the main interests of business users of postal services to encourage the European Commission to take the postal users needs into account when it is preparing its next proposals on postal services this year. PUG, an alliance of the major postal users representing 15 trade associations and businesses, points out in its manifesto that the postal services cover a very wide range of businesses and systems. The letter mail business of Europe´s postal operators represent about 1 million jobs and revenues of 47 billion euro; however, PUG shows that the wider sector accounts for an additional 4 million jobs and over 150 billion euro of revenues.

Contents (i)
List of figures (ii)
List of case studies (ii)
List of annexes (ii)
Signatories (iii)
Foreword (iv)
Author’s Foreword (v)
Executive summary (vi)
1. Introduction 1
2. The postal segment of the mail industry
3. The broader mailing industry 17
4. A shared vision for the future 25
5. Conclusion 33
Annex 36
Bibliography 38
P:LibraryPostalEuropean Mail Manifesto PUG 0706.pdf

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Royal Mail staff to receive 'phantom' shares

Posted by | Jan 12, 2007 | |

Ministers in the UK are likely to approve plans that would give tens of thousands of Royal Mail workers “phantom shares” in the company, linking their pay to the state-owned postal operator’s performance.

The plan, the details of which have yet to be agreed by Alistair Darling, trade and industry secretary, and Allan Leighton, Royal Mail chairman, could lead to its employees being handed up to GBP5,000 each in the shares over five years.

The shares would be bought and sold like real ones, within a trust mirroring the scheme at John Lewis, the retail group.

The phantom shares favoured by ministers would behave like shares and go up and down in value in line with the company’s performance. But they would confer no ownership rights.

Both sides said on Thursday night no final decision had been taken on how to incentivise staff. It is believed Mr Leighton would accept a phantom scheme, provided the value matched his proposal of GBP5,000 over five years.

Mr Leighton has been lobbying the government to set up an employee share ownership scheme as an essential move to win the co-operation of employees in restructuring and modernisation. But the CWU argues this would be tantamount to privatisation and 199 Labour MPs have opposed it in a Commons motion.

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Competition in Spain could shake up Correos

Posted by | Jan 12, 2007 | |

To be fair, it must be pointed out that Correos does face tremendous difficulties in some areas, particularly new urbanisations, where road names have not been assigned nor houses numbered. Almost every day there is news of another mayor and his cronies in the town hall approving more developments which will vastly increase the populations of their areas. However, it doesn’t seem as if Correos ever gets any more staff. Now the state monopoly could be in for a big shake up. The European Commission has proposed changes in postal services by applying strict competition rules.

Consumers are likely to welcome the Commission’s moves to force competition into a vital service that clearly isn’t working properly in the many areas of Spain that have seen significant increases in the population over a relatively short period.

It was reported in November that the Spanish government was considering the proposals and that private postal operations might be able to use the Correos network to offer their services as competition was allowed. However, in competitive markets, prices can go up as well as down. Profit-driven businesses love delivering mail in cities and dense developments. No-one is interested in taking a birthday card to a person living in an isolated home up a long mountain track.

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POD signature capture portal launched by NetDespatch

Posted by | Jan 11, 2007 | |

An industry portal for handling electronic Proof of Delivery (POD) has been launched by NetDespatch. A world first, PODXchange™ is an open Internet exchange that provides a central data hub for parcel carriers to view, search and receive parcel tracking information submitted by any courier. Couriers can submit delivery information for any carrier by sending their status updates and signatures electronically to PODXchange.

Meanwhile, shippers who use different carriers will be able to use PODXchange to track all of their shipments in one place. With a fit-for-all web based reporting mechanism, PODXchange streamlines the use of both internal and sub contract couriers through an off-the-shelf solution for processing electronically submitted collection and delivery information.

PODXchange is a ground-breaking development in the parcel industry, both in the UK and abroad. It gives carriers complete freedom to use any third party courier knowing that they will be equipped to provide data in the right format. With live status updates and POD signatures posted directly to the web portal, all consignment details are available immediately for customers to view and for importing into a carrier’s own tracking system.

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