Tag: Mail Services

Royal Mail faces investigation over late letters

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is facing an investigation over claims that letters are being delivered late because postmen are failing to complete their rounds.

The mail watchdog, Postwatch, will look into the issue after receiving complaints from the organisation’s staff as well as customers.

Problems with postal deliveries have been blamed on new working practices introduced after strikes by the Communication Workers Union, and a new 56 mph speed limit for lorries, which means that mail is arriving later at sorting offices.

Postwatch will survey thousands of householders to find out whether mail is arriving on time.

The investigation will focus on a practice known as “cutting off”, where workers take undelivered mail back to the delivery office at the end of a shift, rather than finishing the round in overtime.

Royal Mail says it has already fitted its lorries with speed limiters in advance of European Union rules which will restrict their speed from January 1.

Postal workers, writing in an online forum, have threatened to disrupt deliveries at Christmas. One said: “I am cutting off every day in December.” Another said: “I for one will be finishing at my time.”

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The UPU publishes its world postal statistics for 2006

Posted by | Dec 10, 2007 | |

Letter volumes are stabilizing, the growth in parcel volumes is continuing, and postal revenue is sharply up: these are the three major trends highlighted in the worldwide postal statistics for 2006, published today by the Universal Postal Union.
Since 1875, the UPU has gathered statistics from the operators designated by UPU members around the world to provide the universal postal service. Of the 191 UPU member countries, 163 responded to the 2006 questionnaire. The figures are therefore based on information provided by participating Posts and UPU estimates.

With a total of 433 billion mail items, domestic letter-post traffic was slightly up compared to 2005, returning to the same level as in 2000. The strongest growth was in Africa (+2.1 pct), while the Arab countries saw the biggest drop (-2.5pct). Generally speaking, advertising items had a positive impact on mail volumes, which have faced heavy competition from electronic communications over the past few years.

Volumes of international letter post (5.5 billion items) were down 2pct overall, though there was wide regional variation, with volumes up 8.1pct in the Caribbean, and down a full 15 pct in Africa.

With a total of 6.235 billion items in the domestic and international services combined, parcels traffic was up 4.8 pct compared to 2005.

The biggest rise in domestic parcels traffic was seen in Africa (+11.7). For the international service, it was Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which saw the biggest increase (+21.4pct). The delivery of merchandise ordered via the Internet is thought to be one of the growth factors.

With a total of 204.8 billion SDR* (equivalent to 308.1 billion USD), worldwide postal revenue was up 13pct compared to 2005. This growth was shared by three-quarters of UPU member countries. Letter post still generates more than half (52.3pct) of operating revenue, but this figure was 7.7pct lower than in 2005. Meanwhile, revenue generated by parcels and logistics services rose by 6pct to contribute 27pct of global revenue. Financial products accounted for 14pct of revenue.

*SDR = Special Drawing Right, the UPU’s official unit of account. At 31 December 2006,
1 SDR was worth 1.5044 USD.

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Kuwait postal sector to be privatized

Posted by | Dec 8, 2007 | |

A specialist team has been assigned the task of privatizing the postal sector,’ Al-Watan daily quoted Assistant Undersecretary for Postal Sector at the Ministry of Communications Saud Al-Asosi as saying.

There are several steps in privatizing the sector and the first step will be to establish a joint-stock company, he said, adding ‘the government will be the major shareholder and a certain percentage of the company’s shares will be floated for public subscription.’

The assistant undersecretary assured that all the 1,600 employees of the sector will retain their jobs even after the privatization and the company might recruit additional employees. ‘But the ministry will do the supervising and monitoring role and the company will have to abide by the conditions, terms, ministerial decisions and international postal regulations,’ he noted.

Asosi was optimistic that the change will boost the postal sector and will save the ministry a lot of expenses.

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Rwanda: Post Office to Venture into Money Transfer Business

Posted by | Dec 8, 2007 | |

National Post Office, Rwanda is venturing into money transfer business targeting the East African regional market. Already top management of the Rwanda Post Office is in talks with its Kenya and Uganda counterparts to see how they could jointly exploit the underserved regional market.
“We want to diversify our traditional way of earning and reduce the risks and costs of transport for our clients. This service (money transfer) will help our clients to send money in every part of the country (and East Africa) within shortest period of time,” Celestin Kayitare, the director general of National Post Corporation-Rwanda said.
The corporation plans to invest Frw20 million to upgrade some of its software and install new computers to net work some of its branches countrywide.
The move is to positioning the state owned corporation as a leading money transferring agent in the region. Two companies; one from Tunisia and the other from South Africa have been approached to upgrade the software.
However Kayitare could not disclose their names reasoning that it is not good in business. When the Post Office starts money transfer business probably early next year, “The person (using post office services) will only need to identify him or herself to get money at the service centre,” he said.
To remain relevant in the competitive liberalised Rwanda economy the Post Office still deals in stamps, offers banking services and is involved in courier business. The corporation is also a Western Union Money agent.
Kayitare said: “We will first use this service (money transfer) in six branches as a pilot study January next year and then rollout to the remaining branches by the end of June same year.”

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