Tag: Europe

Up to 3,000 UK Post Offices face closure

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

A fifth of Britain’s post offices could be shut under government-backed plans to be outlined by ministers next week. Alistair Darling, trade and industry secretary, is preparing to sanction proposals to shut between 2,500 and 3,000 urban and rural post offices in a bid to stem mounting losses, the Financial Times understands. The decision could provoke a backlash from Labour MPs and rural communities which have campaigned fiercely to protect post offices from closure. However, ministers believe they have struck the right balance between Royal Mail’s demands to shut thousands more and the need to maintain a widespread service. Mr. Darling will also make it clear that the government intends to continue with a public subsidy for rural post offices at about its current level of GBP150m a year, which was due to expire in 2008. The Department of Trade and Industry is due to make a statement next Thursday on the future of the 14,400-strong post office network. The cuts are likely to be implemented over a number of years.

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TNT delivers more than 100 new jobs for North-West

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

A new GBP5.6 million depot built for TNT is set to create more than 100 new jobs for the Merseyside region.
TNT is currently putting the finishing touches to the new depot in Hale Road, Speke, at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which will handle domestic parcels for the North-West of England as well as international consignments to and from mainland Europe and further afield.

Employing approximately 110 people, the 56-bay depot on the 4.13-acre site is projected to handle almost three million domestic collections and deliveries a year, while the international side expects approximately half a million a year.

The air gateway is scheduled to go operational in the first week of 2007. The new facility will be handling parcels and packages for UK destinations by February, and will be offering full national and international services by April.

Businesses throughout the North-West will now be able to take advantage of the depot’s leading edge technology, including a ‘dolly train’ system for the quickest loading and unloading of TNT aircraft.

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Less than 10% of direct mail is relevant to recipients

Posted by | Dec 11, 2006 | |

Fewer than one in 10 pieces of direct mail are relevant to the people who receive them, new research has found.

The survey reveals that 47% of direct mail that is sent to post boxes is addressed incorrectly.

Data firm Informatica has undertaken the study to highlight the attention of inaccurate data being used in UK direct marketing campaigns.

It blames poorly-used data for contributing to the 78,000 tonnes of landfill waste each year caused by unaddressed junk mail.

Other findings were that 40% of respondents received more than five pieces of direct mail a week and a quarter of people said that less than 1% of all the direct marketing they received was relevant to them.

Tom Golden, vice-president of marketing for Informatica’s data quality division, said: “Dirty data is a huge problem for the UK’s direct marketing industry and data quality has to be paramount.

“Companies, at the very least, need to get name and address details correct or potentially alienate consumers, flying in the face of their objective to attract people to their brand.

“What’s worse for companies is that inaccurate data produces irrelevant mail that winds up straight in the bin, and equates to an immediate loss of a much-needed marketing budget.”

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Royal Mail to close 7,000 post offices

Posted by | Dec 10, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told the government it wants to close more than 7,000 of its post offices – around half of the 14,400 post offices across Britain.

The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) is expected to make a statement on Thursday about the future of the Royal Mail network, which has already closed thousands of its post offices in the past seven years, reports The Times.

The announcement comes just days after the Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, warned that the closure of many post offices was contributing to the poverty problem at the National Poverty Hearing last week.

The closure of so many post offices was, he said, “making life more difficult and painful”.

Current losses of around GBP2m each week, despite a GBP150m-a-year subsidy from the government, are a major factor in Royal Mail’s announcement.

Kate Hoey, Labour MP and chair of the all-party group for sub-post offices, said in The Times: “MPs of all political persuasions would be up in arms if cuts of this scale were to happen.”

In November campaigners delivered a petition to Downing Street urging ministers to keep as many post offices as possible open in Britain. Rural communities in particular will suffer if the desired closures go ahead.

A DTI spokesman said: “We recognise the wider social role of the post office in communities.

“But also there is widespread recognition that the current size of the network is unsustainable.”

The size of the network will depend on the amount of money that Royal Mail receives from the Treasury, a spokesman for the Royal Mail said.

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Half Britain's Post Offices `will have to close'

Posted by | Dec 9, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail has told ministers that half of Britain’s 14,500 post offices should be shut to stem mounting losses, it was reported today.
But the Government is likely to propose that a fifth of rural and urban branches- between 2,500 and 3,000 – be closed down, according to the Times.
Controversy over plans for reforming the network has been growing in the run-up to an announcement by the Department for Trade and Industry expected next Thursday.
Royal Mail has previously claimed that around 4,000 post offices nationwide would be the optimum “commercial” level, although chief executive Adam Crozier has accepted its social benefits must also be taken into account.
Currently the network comprises around 8,000 rural and 6,500 urban branches, and is said to make an operating loss of GBP2 million every week – subsidised with GBP150 million annually from the Treasury.

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