Tag: International

Today’s Holidays Need Today’s Mail

Posted by | Nov 13, 2007 | |

CardStore (usps.com/cardstore) allows customers to create greeting cards and add a gift card from one of 20 national retail outlets. Use personal photos or choose from more than 50 card designs, including traditional, religious, multi-cultural and non-denominational images and greetings.

Other online options for holiday greetings include Click2Mail and Premium Postcards. Click2Mail provides the perfect solution for end-of-year holiday letters and can be sent by First-Class Mail or Standard Mail rates. Premium Postcards can be created in black and white or full color to announce new holiday products or discounts, send a personal greeting or thank customers for their support throughout the year.

Customized postage has two parts: a customer-supplied image and a state-of-the-art, secure barcode. All customized postage is compatible with the Postal Services’ automated mail processing systems. It can be used on First-Class Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for personal and commercial use.

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DPWN addresses shareholders to calm rumours

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Deutsche Post World Net’s (DPWN) senior managers have been energetically defending the strategic direction of their company, after the publication of their nine-monthly results last week which saw revenue rise by 5.3pct and EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Tax) after exceptional items fall by 2.5pct.

In particular, the new chief financial officer, John Allan, has been thrust forward to help articulate the new ‘capital markets programme’. Entitled a “Road Map to Value” this is designed to underline DPWN’s commitment to better returns to shareholders. It also emphasises what is an important change in direction for DPWN’s corporate strategy. DPWN’s CEO Klaus Zumwinkel articulated this as “following an expansion phase to build the leading logistics company worldwide, we’re now entering a new era…… We are implementing a series of long-term measures in order to raise profitability, generate more cash, increase payouts to shareholders and improve transparency.”

For a company as acquisitive as DPWN this is an interesting statement, indicating that the strategy of global expansion is being reigned-back, although targeted acquisitions are still being made.

Underlying DPWN’s concern is disenchantment amongst institutional investors outside Germany over the performance of the company’s shares. This is leading to mutterings on stock markets about the merits of a break-up of DPWN, particularly through a buy-out from a private equity house.

From the remarks emerging from Bonn, it does appear that DPWN is feeling the capital markets breathing down its neck. For example, John Allan commented that he didn’t think a private equity bid was a big risk “but I think one can never be complacent and the best way of stopping it even being a small risk and protect the future of our company, the jobs of our employees and so on, is really going to be to carry through very aggressively the programme we have announced today, which should make our shareholders happy”.

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UPS Soars Into 100th Holiday Season, Expecting More Than 22 Million Deliveries on Busiest Day

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

UPS is dusting off its Santa hat for its 100th holiday season and is expecting deliveries on its busiest day to soar 40pct to more than 22 million.

On UPS’s Peak Day, Wednesday, Dec. 19, the company will deliver more than 250 packages every second through its worldwide air and ground network. Just two days later on Friday, Dec. 21, UPS will handle its largest volume of air express packages, delivering some 5.6 million air packages or nearly two-and-a-half times its normal air volume.

To accommodate the intense holiday surge, UPS once again will become one of the season’s top employers of choice, adding more than 60,000 seasonal employees, enough to staff some Fortune 500 companies.

The UPS network is designed to handle the needs of all shippers, including procrastinators. Indeed, UPS will accept Next Day Air® packages on Friday, Dec. 21, for delivery on Monday, Dec. 24, just in time for the big day. UPS recommends that shippers with questions about shipping options and proper packing techniques rely on the experts at their neighborhood The UPS Store® and Mail Boxes Etc.® locations.

More than 5,900 The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations worldwide offer access to specially trained and certified packing experts who can make gift-giving easier and more efficient. To underscore this fact, participating The UPS Store locations in the U.S. are offering the Pack & Ship Promise, which will reimburse customers in the event a center-packed item shipped via UPS is lost or damaged.

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TNT and Hongkong Post join forces to tap Indian market

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

TNT has signed a strategic partnership agreement to provide express services in India with Hongkong Post, the postal service provider in Hong Kong. The companies are also likely to tap into the emerging markets in the Middle East in the next couple of years.

The companies will together provide the Speedpost FreightPlus service, which enables Hongkong Post to deliver items to India in two to three days instead of five to six days as in the past. Shipments can also be handled in multiple pieces under one consignment, leading to greater flexibility.

Under the partnership agreement, Hongkong Post will provide collection and customer services for items to be delivered overseas by express. TNT will collect the items to be delivered to India. The items would be delivered through the Indian logistics company Speedage, which has an established network in India and was acquired by TNT in 2006. Hongkong Post will provide customer service support and manage item tracking and tracing requests.

TNT and Hongkong Post is also considering co-branding initiatives to provide time-definite and premium services for existing customers.

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Survey reveals four-day wait for An Post to deliver

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Ireland has one of the slowest postal services in Europe, with standard letters taking up to four days toarrive, Irish Examinerresearch reveals.

Over two months the Irish Examiner posted more than 100 letters from 10 city and rural locations. Only 73 pct came on time, indicating An Post is likely to break its promise of achieving a next-day delivery rate of 80 pct by the end of the year.

Since 2003, An Post’s next-day delivery rates have averaged about 72 pct of all mail, in breach of the 94 pct target set by the official postal watchdog ComReg.

Consumers’ Association of Ireland chief executive Dermott Jewell called for an overhaul of An Post.

“We are looking at a postal system in chaos and with Christmas on the way it’s An Post’s busiest time of year. This problem has got to be addressed by ComReg, who should either guarantee a service or a system of refunds,” he said.

In the Irish Examiner survey, a batch of 10 letters posted in Dublin all arrived the next day but another batch posted a month later took up to four days.

Letters posted from Co Offaly to Cork arrived the next day in one part of the city but took two days toarrive to other parts. Letters addressed in Irish took up to four days to reach Co Tipperary, yet one sent to England arrived sooner.

Yesterday An Post said performance figures for April to June showed next- day delivery rates had risen to 78 pct from 73 pct during the same months in 2006.

Head of communications Anna McHugh said: “We are fully committed to reaching our interim target of 80 pct next-day delivery this year and to achieving the target of 94 pct within three years.”

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