Tag: Mail Services

Pakistan Post increases services’ commission

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

After hike in oil and power tariff, the state-run postal service ‘Pakistan Post’ has increased commission for its various services across the country to meet expenses and announced new rates to be affective from 18 March, it is learnt.

The new increased rates will effect twenty million customers, especially in rural areas of Pakistan where Pakistan Post is the only courier service.

The new charges of Fax Money Order for an amount of up to twenty-five thousand have been increased to Rs 150 from Rs 100. Pakistan Post has also fixed the FMO charges of Rs 300 for the delivery of more than Rs 25,000. The charges of urgent Money Order (local) would be Rs 65 while the city-to-city charges would be Rs 80. Similarly, the charges of normal Money Order have been fixed at Rs 55.

The new rate of local urgent mail service, up to the weight of half kilogram has been fixed at Rs 15 and the rate of urgent mail service city to city are fixed at Rs 30. Pakistan Post Office is one of the oldest government departments in the Sub-Continent. staff report

Read More

Getting it dead right

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

Make sure you get your funeral sorted says the Post Office®

As the credit crunch takes effect many people are reviewing their finances but one thing people often forget about is planning for a funeral should the worst happen. In fact recent research for the Post Office® shows that only 15 per cent of us will actually plan in advance to cover the costs of our funeral and perhaps even more importantly stipulate the kind of funeral we want.

Post Office® research has shown that, given the choice, only half the UK population would opt for a traditional burial or cremation. It also revealed that the favourite UK spot to have ashes scattered would be the Lake District followed by the deceased’s favourite football ground.

If they planned ahead, 18 per cent of people would opt to have their ashes turned into a diamond and 13 per cent made into a firework. A quarter of people would go for a more eco friendly cardboard coffin and 15 per cent for freeze drying where your body is frozen then shattered into a biodegradable dust.

Forty per cent of those surveyed would want a celebratory-style funeral with nobody dressed in black although 10 per cent would go for a funeral procession with black horses and carriage.

Despite the fact that the cost of a funeral is generally well over GBP 2,000 these days, the research showed that nearly half (47 per cent) of people thought it would cost less than GBP 2,000. And only 30 per cent of people would have GBP 2000 or more to cover the cost of a loved one’s funeral if they died tomorrow.

Post Office® life insurance manager Duncan Caesar-Gordon said: “The cost of a funeral can run in to several thousand pounds. Taking out the Over 50s life insurance cover means you will receive a guaranteed cash sum so at least family and friends will have money to put towards a traditional funeral or a special send off you may have in mind.

Read More

US Postal Service site lets anyone hold your mail

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

Wednesday night on Off The Hook, a radio show on WBAI in New York, Emmanuel Goldstein and the guys from 2600 discussed a feature on the Web site of the U.S. Postal Service that can only be described as ill-conceived.

If you’re going to be away from home for a while, the your local post office can hold your mail to avoid an overflowing mailbox. Fine.

In the old days (and you can still do this), you went to the office and filled out a form (PDF). Someone on the show who has done this said the Postal Service doesn’t validate the identity of the person who requests mail to be held. It validates only the identity of the person who comes to pick up the mail.

Government techies copied this manual system to the Internet.

You can go to https://holdmail.usps.com (or click on Hold Mail at the Postal Service home page, as shown below) and put a hold on mail delivery. Notice that I didn’t say put a hold on your mail delivery. You can put a hold on mail delivered to anyone. This is true with the traditional system, too, but the Internet makes it worse, adding more anonymity and making the process easier. Too easy.

The agency site claims that it needs a name, address, and phone number to stop mail delivery. When tested, however, this turns out not to be the case. Requests with wrong names and wrong phone numbers were accepted, according to a listener who wrote in to the show. All you really need to know is an address.

And with the address, you can stop all mail delivery, not just mail to one person. Quoting from the Frequently Asked Questions: “All mail, regardless of name, will be held for the address entered. Submitting an online Hold Mail request once is all that is required to hold mail delivery for everyone at the address.”

Read More

Pos Malaysia earnings to improve starting 2009

Posted by | Mar 21, 2008 | |

Pos Malaysia Bhd, whose share price continues to languish, is expected to register better earnings and growth beginning 2009 following its modernisation plans and the unfolding of Transmile Group Bhd’s turnaround.

The company’s share price has fallen by 33.06% since Jan 2, achieving a high of RM2.52 on Jan 11. On Wednesday, it closed at RM1.66, a three sen drop from Tuesday.

Analysts expected a stronger cash flow from Pos Malaysia following the completion of its RM200 million new mail processing centre in Shah Alam, part of the company’s modernisation plan. The centre is targeted to be operational by the first quarter of 2009.

“Going forward, we expect to see a strong cash flow from Pos Malaysia in 2009, which should register a free cash flow of over 10% during the year,” said Teoh Paul Keng, a senior analyst at HLG Research.

“Under the modernisation plan, the building in Shah Alam is to increase the automation level from 25% to 70%. They have about 3,000 staff in their existing processing centre, the new centre could reduce their manpower by more than 1,000 staff and this could earn them annual cost savings of about RM20 million,” he added.

Teoh expected Pos Malaysia’s cash flow to be more modest this year due to the capital expenditure incurred by the company in the new facility.

He said Pos Malaysia remained an attractive option for investors. “It is still a good time to invest in Pos Malaysia. At present, it is a domestic consumption play, it is also one of the most defensive plays.” HLG Research also has a buy on Pos Malaysia at RM2.50.

Teoh also said its earnings growth would most likely be flat due to the imbalance between the mail growth volume and postal tariff rates. “The mail growth volume goes up an average 3% to 5% every year, but there hasn’t been a hike in postal tariffs.”

Read More

Councils could run threatened post offices in UK

Posted by | Mar 20, 2008 | |

Councils will be able to run closure-threatened post offices, the Government confirmed yesterday.

The Post Office had been told to enter into negotiations with councils wanting to take over the running of some of the branches earmarked for closure.

Business Secretary John Hutton has now written to the Post Office, encouraging the company to engage with local authorities.

He said, “If there is a way forward here which might allow more sub-post offices to remain open, while retaining a sustainable network, I am sure the Post Office will want to look very closely at how any such proposals could work in practice.”

Yesterday a Conservative motion aimed at halting the closure programme was defeated in the Commons. The Tories had hoped to persuade an estimated 90 Labour MPs who have campaigned publicly against the closures to vote with them.

Tory spokesman Alan Duncan said Labour should have “no option” but to vote with them, but last night only around 20 did so.

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd said, “There is a terrible whiff of hypocrisy in Westminster. Many Labour ministers and backbenchers are voting in favour of the closure of post offices, while at the same time running around like headless chickens in their constituencies, pretending to campaign in favour of keeping these post offices open.”

The Liberal Democrats said they wanted to de-couple the Royal Mail and Post Office, keeping the latter in the public sector but giving it freedom to develop services for all mail delivery companies.

A 49% stake in Royal Mail would be sold to the private sector, with 50% made available to provide an employee trust for staff on the John Lewis model.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest