Tag: Mail Services

Court opposes minimum wage in German postal sector

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

A German administrative court said on Friday a minimum wage introduced in the country’s postal service did not conform with the law, handing a victory to competitors of Deutsche Post

The court said the minimum wage violated the basic rights of the plaintiffs, who are competitors of Germany’s main postal delivery firm and former state monopoly Deutsche Post.

Dutch mail company TNT NV and Germany’s mail services group PIN had taken legal action over Germany’s minimum wage, arguing it should not have been declared universally binding.

Europe’s largest economy introduced a minimum wage of up to 9.80 euros per hour for the country’s roughly 220,000 postal workers in January.

The German Labour Ministry said it would appeal the ruling.

“The government and Bundestag (lower house of parliament) decided last year to accompany the full opening of the letter market with a minimum wage,” it said about the introduction of the pay floor, which coincided with the end of Deutsche Post’s remaining monopoly for letters up to 50 grams.

Supporters of the minimum wage say public discontent about income inequality in Germany is growing, arguing that domestic demand needs a boost and that Deutsche Post’s competitors should not base their business models on workers earning a pittance.

But business lobbies say the minimum wage level favours Deutsche Post, which handles over 90 percent of letter deliveries in Germany and thus has huge advantages of scale.

Germany does not have a nationwide minimum wage. It is opposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel on the grounds that it would create new problems and could put jobs at risk.

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Canada Post Hosts 'LIFT,' 5th Annual Direct Summit for Retailers

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

Canada Post announced today the conference dates for the Direct Summit, a conference dedicated to the advancement of the Multi-Channel Retail Industry in Canada. Summit delegates will meet April 21-23 at the Pantages Hotel and Spa in Toronto.

“The main theme for this year’s conference centers on the customer experience and increasing the lift in consumer response through direct marketing,” said Laurene Cihosky, SVP of Direct Marketing for Canada Post. “Retailers at the Summit have a tremendous opportunity to network and talk about what works.”

The Direct Summit will include speakers from Google Inc., LL Bean, JC Williams Group and Future Shop, winner of the Retail Council of Canada’s 2007 Multi-Channel Retailer of the Year award. More than 130 retailers attended the Summit last year.

The keynote speaker is Jeanne Bliss, managing partner at CustomerBliss and author of Chief Customer Officer; Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action. For 25 years, Jeanne Bliss reported to the Presidents of direct retailer Lands’ End, Allstate, Mazda, Microsoft and Coldwell Banker Corporation as their Chief Customer Officer. Bliss is considered a leader in changing the culture and DNA of companies and making them more effective.

The Direct Summit is unique because of the peer-to-peer interaction. Senior delegates will learn strategies their peers are employing to capitalize on Canada’s strong dollar, and identify co-marketing partnerships to attract and convert new market segments. Add to that, a “Catalogue Critique Clinic” which will provide expert advice from executives at St. Joseph Content/Pi Media, who will review a number of current North American catalogues, identifying what works in each and what can be improved.

According to eMarketer, the Canadian direct retail industry will have increased by 45 percent by the end of 2007. Senior Analyst, Jeffrey Grau, will present eMarketer’s new forecast about online retail sales in Canada and will discuss which factors will drive market growth in 2008 and beyond. Jeff will also draw from a rich set of survey data from eMarketer’s latest report on Canada’s growing “etailing” industry and U.S. multi-channel retailing trends to present lessons for Canadian online retail marketers.

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Dump the junk mail (Canada)

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

Albertans opt out of receiving unaddressed ad mail at a rate of more than twice the national average, according to Canada Post. Canada-wide, only six per cent of households ask the postal service not to deliver unaddressed ad mail. Fourteen per cent, or 206,000 Alberta households, ask Canada Post to stop.

Grassroots efforts in the province may have boosted our spurning of junk mail. One such effort is the Dump the Junk campaign, launched by the Clean Calgary Association about a year ago. Since the campaign’s start, the non-profit environmental organization has sold more than 5,000 “no junk mail” stickers at USD 2 a pop. These stickers help stop unaddressed ad mail. The campaign also provides information on how to stop addressed ad mail by removing yourself from marketing contact lists.

Lindsay Luhnau, who helped launch the Dump the Junk campaign, says if enough people exercise their consumer choice, there will be a net reduction in the volume of ad mail produced and, ultimately, fewer trees will be cut down.

John Caines, a spokesperson for Canada Post, says the postal service’s advanced databases allow marketers to see how many people have opted out of receiving ad mail, which not only helps the environment, but also saves companies money by preventing them from printing more flyers than needed.

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USPS/HBO Ads Send a Message — by Mail

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

HBO is joining forces for the first time with the Postal Service, for a multimillion-dollar, multimedia campaign that is all about the write stuff.

The campaign, now under way, is promoting “John Adams,” a seven-part mini-series that is scheduled to begin on the cable network on March 16.

The television, print, online, retail and promotional campaign is intended to invoke the pleasures of sitting right down and writing yourself — or anyone — a letter.

The campaign will even help you do that, by offering free cards, with postage paid, that you can send to whomever you choose.

The campaign, by the Civic Entertainment Group in New York, seeks to demonstrate what it calls the “Power of the letter,” which is also the U.R.L. for a special Postal Service Web site that is a central element of the campaign (poweroftheletter.com).

The Web site is the work of AKQA, which was recently named digital agency of the year by the trade publication Adweek.

A section of a Web site from HBO that is devoted to the miniseries (johnadams08.com) also directs visitors to the letter-power site.

The campaign also appears on the main Postal Service Web site (usps.com) as well as on placards and posters in post offices around the country.

Even the cancellation marks on envelopes and the sales receipts given by postal employees to customers are carrying the address of the special Web site along with a quotation from Adams: “Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”

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US Postal Service to lose USD 1 billion

Posted by | Mar 6, 2008 | |

U.S. Postmaster General John Potter told a U.S. Senate subcommittee the postal service is on line to lose USD 1 billion in 2008 due to decreasing business.

“We would never be able to dig out of that hole,” Potter told senators Wednesday.

The postal service is threatened by a drop off in first-class mail — from 98 billion pieces in 2004 to 96 billion in 2007 — and by increased pressure from states, 18 of which have introduced bills to allow residents to opt out of receiving junk mail.

“We threw out the equivalent of a grocery bag of unwanted mail each day,” Maryland Del. Karen S. Montgomery, D-Brookeville, told The Washington Post.

Montgomery introduced a “do not mail” bill in Maryland but withdrew it under pressure from lobbyists, the report said.

The U.S. Postal Service can only raise letter rates to coincide with inflation but it can raise package rates to stay abreast of competitors.

But, Potter asked senators to consider allowing the postal service to rent out space to retailers.

“Other countries … look at their assets and use those assets to generate revenue,” Potter said. “That type of flexibility is something I think we need to explore.”

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