Tag: Mail Services

Green growth for Norway Post in the Nordic region

Posted by | Feb 21, 2008 | |

Norway Post is making green the main colour for its Nordic postal and logistics operations. In Norway, the company will keep its well-known red colour.

Norway Post’s strategy is to be a leading player in the postal, logistics and IT sectors in the Nordic region. Customers are becoming increasingly Nordic and Norway Post offers solutions that meet Nordic needs. By investing more than NOK 5 billion in acquisitions over the past three years, Norway Post has gained a solid foothold in the Nordic market, mainly in Sweden. The acquired companies have increased the Group’s revenues by NOK 10 billion in three years and a corresponding expansion is planned for the years to come. Companies outside Norway accounted for 23 per cent of Norway Post’s income in 2007.

The expansion has also led to a large number of brands in Norway Post’s portfolio. Now the time has come to create more distinctiveness and make the Group’s activities in Norway and the Nordic region visible.

Norway Post is working on a new brand strategy that aims to make visible its wide range of Norwegian and Nordic products and services and equip the Group to face the major changes in the market. One of the conclusions from this work is that the Group is to choose green as the main colour for its Nordic postal and logistics operations.

By choosing the colour green, Norway Post is building further on the successful position and good visibility that its subsidiary Box has achieved in the Nordic region.

The appearance of Norway Post’s Nordic operations, including their brand and symbol, will not be known until the new brand is launched later in 2008. In Norway, the company will keep its well-known red colour.

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Further strike action at Royal Mail could follow (UK)

Posted by | Feb 21, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has announced its intention to follow through on on its proposed changes to Postal Workers pensions which could see further strike action by postal workers.

The controversal move would mean raising the retirement age from 60 to 65 after 2010. The present pension scheme would, under Royal Mail’s proposals, cease from the 1st April 2008. The move is being communicated to its workforce by letter.

The CWU is said to be ‘disappointed’ by the move and made it clear that it was not willing to accept the plan without the agreement of CWU members.

From the 1st April, existing pensions will be changed to a ‘career salary defined benefit scheme’ meaning that workers pension benefits will be calculated on the basis of actual pensionable earnings in each given year. The calculation would also be uprated by inflation, capped at 5%. Employee contribution rates will remain unchanged.

Also from the 1st April, new starters at Royal Mail, will be offered a new, defined contribution scheme based on a tiered employee/employer contribution rate although eligibility to join the scheme will not become effective until the employee has been with Royal Mail for 12 months anyway.

The Postal Executive Committee is to meet on Monday to discuss its next move, the likely outcome of which will be a formal ballot. If CWU members reject the proposal, industrial action could soon follow, plunging Royal Mail into another period of strike action.

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USPS offers new larger box with one flat price for shipping (U,S)

Posted by | Feb 21, 2008 | |

The US Postal Service has launched a new box for larger shipments, giving customers three different size and shape options — all with convenient flat-rate pricing — to meet their shipping needs. The new box is 50 percent larger than the current flat-rate boxes. If it fits, it ships, for just USD 12.95 to any U.S. address beginning March 3.

The current flat-rate boxes, introduced in November 2004, give customers a single, predetermined rate regardless of the weight or delivery zone. The new, larger box extends the Postal Service’s line of successful flat-rate offerings, providing more choices for small businesses and consumers.

The new Priority Mail Large Flat-Rate Box (12″ x 12″ x 5 ½” or nearly 800 cubic inches) will be available in Post Offices nationwide beginning March 3.

Some of the new boxes are co-branded with the logo of America Supports You, a Department of Defense program that connects citizens offering support to the military and their families.

Mail to APO/FPO addresses receive $2 discount

Priority Mail Large Flat-Rate Boxes shipped to an APO/FPO destination receive a USD 2 discount, a postal first for the military; either version of the new larger box can receive the discount. The two existing flat-rate boxes (11 ⅞” x 3 ⅜” x 13 ⅝” and 11″ x 8 ½” x 5 ½”), which currently retail for USD 8.95 for U.S. addresses, are not eligible for the military discount. All flat-rate boxes can be used for shipping to international addresses.

All Postal Service Priority and Express Mail packages and envelopes are environmentally friendly, exceeding the highest standards for recyclability.

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Post offices in Parliament to escape Royal Mail axe (UK)

Posted by | Feb 20, 2008 | |

All three post offices in the Houses of Parliament are to escape the mass cull of London branches, the Standard can reveal.

The Royal Mail has provoked outrage after announcing plans to axe 169 post offices in the City.

But it has decided to exempt the offices in the Commons despite them being separated by only a few 100 metres.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said the Royal Mail should look again at its plans.

He said: “What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. I cannot fathom why, when MPs have three post offices within 100 metres of each other, and some people have none within a kilometre of them, the latter were shut.

He added: “It seems as though Members’ Priority Service has won the day again.”

A fifth of the London network will be axed by this summer.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said the branches in Parliament were crown post offices and were part of the directly-managed national network.

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New location may aid post offices (UK)

Posted by | Feb 20, 2008 | |

Westminster City Council offered the alternative after Tuesday’s announcement that 169 of the capital’s 850 post offices could close.

It said putting post counters in its buildings would preserve services and boost the authority’s income.

A six-week consultation has begun on the Post Office’s plans.

Councillor Tony Devenish said: “Post offices are vital for local communities and, at a time when the Government says it wants councils to enhance community cohesion and improve local services, we have this venerable national institution ripping the heart out of high streets up and down the land.

“I am saddened at the savage cuts announced by the Post Office and believe our proposals can offer a viable alternative.”

The Post Office’s plans are part of a wider move to close up to 2,500 post offices nationwide, which began in October last year.

The government has said mounting debts mean post offices needs to be closed in order to curb losses currently running at GBP 4m a week.

Figures show many post offices are losing large numbers of customers who used to come to the Post Office to claim their benefits but now get payments straight into their bank account.

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