Tag: Europe

Carbon-free parcel first for Parcelforce Worldwide

Posted by | Jan 8, 2007 | |

Parcelforce Worldwide is offering its customers a first in the UK express parcels market – the option to deliver their parcel carbon-free.

Customers booking online can now choose to donate 5p per parcel for UK and 10p per parcel for international deliveries when ordering via www.parcelforce.com.

Having calculated the average amount of carbon emitted for each parcel, Parcelforce Worldwide will match all donations and, through their association with The Woodland Trust, invest it in an approved programme to offset greenhouse gases generated during the journey of that parcel.

Managing Director Vanessa Leeson explained that giving customers the option to send their parcel carbon free was part of a wider approach to carbon management.

She said: “Our business uses renewable energy in our buildings, bio-diesel in our vehicle fleet and pro-actively seeks to increase energy efficiency where practical. While we’d never force carbon offset onto our customers, many of them are telling us that they will choose the commitment.”

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Business Post's UK Mail wins contract with UK govt worth 12 mln stg revenue

Posted by | Jan 8, 2007 | |

Business Post Group PLC said its mail company UK Mail, the leading competitor to Royal Mail in downstream access postal services, has been awarded a major new contract by HM Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) worth 12 mln stg of revenue per annum.

DWP mails 82 million items a year from two distribution centres in the North East and North West of England. With the Royal Bank of Scotland and DWP, Business Post said UK Mail now has two of the three largest mailers in the UK as customers. DWP will become UK Mail’s largest customer by revenue.

The new contract is due to start on Feb 5.

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An Post banking venture faces tough market

Posted by | Jan 7, 2007 | |

An Post’s banking joint venture with Belgian giant Fortis faces a difficult start in the coming months after new figures showed the Post Office Savings Bank failed to retain most of the euro140 million paid out to its Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA) holders last year.

Figures for the year ended December 2006, show An Post savers switched their money to other institutions when their SSIAs matured, as its savings bank struggled to match eye-catching deals from rivals such as AIB, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank.

The bank’s total deposit base grew by just 3 per cent to just over euro1.5 billion last year.

Balances in non-SSIA savings accounts grew by 8 per cent, or euro99 million, just euro8 million more than the increase recorded in 2005, despite last year’s release of euro140 million held in SSIA accounts that had reached the end of their five-year term.

The growth rate of 8 per cent significantly lagged the increases in deposits recorded by other banks, which were about 15 to 20 per cent last year.

The savings bank is also expected to face an uphill battle to retain SSIA funds worth a further euro300 million, which are held in accounts that mature between now and April.

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Rural group backs UK Post Office closure plan

Posted by | Jan 5, 2007 | |

Plans for the reorganisation of the rural postal system that include the closure of 2,500 post offices have been welcomed by a group of rural campaigners.
The plans were announced to Parliament before Christmas by trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling. He said the restructuring was needed “to protect the national network”.
He said a GBP1.7 billion support package would be provided to maintain GBP150 million-a-year payments to the rural post office network until 2011. In addition, up to 4,000 fee-free cash machines will be rolled out to help customers in areas hit by the closures, he said.
To offset the closures, he said the Post Office would set up 500 “innovative outlets” for small, remote communities, including “mobile post offices and services in village halls, community centres and pubs”.
Sylvia Brown, chief executive of Action for Communities in Rural England, said the present system of post office support was unsustainable. She said: “We want the post office subsidy transformed into a contribution towards a genuine investment plan to help retain access to a range of services within rural communities.
“We are pleased that the minister recognises the future of post office services may lie in combined delivery with pubs, shops or village halls hosting services and sharing premises to reduce overheads.”

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Royal Mail discounts business post

Posted by | Jan 5, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is to introduce new volume-based discount schemes for business mailers from 2 April. While it’s difficult to get excited about a stamp (franking mark or PPI), the new postal prices mean it’s time for businesses to review their mailing contracts again.

Personal mail, such as letters and birthday cards, make up only 10% of the mail delivered in the UK by Royal Mail. The rest is made up of business mailings to other businesses, and to consumers, and consumer post to businesses.
Postcomm Chairman Nigel Stapleton said, “Full competition is off to an encouraging start in 2006 with 18 new operators now in the market. Many large mailers, both in the private and public sector, have switched to new operators who they have found to be reliable and sensitive to their specific needs. Everybody has benefited because, in response to competition, Royal Mail has delivered record service levels.”

A Postcomm survey in October found that mail prices had reduced significantly for 20% of businesses as a result of the increased competition in the postal service.

“We are committed to offering discounts to customers who give us mail that can be sorted by our machines, rather than by hand. These items cost us less to handle so it’s right that we reflect this in the prices we charge those customers,” said Lorna Clarkson, Royal Mail’s Director of Commercial Policy and Pricing.

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