ParcelForce has started relinquishing some of its parcel contracts where the margins are too low. The move follows the restructuring plan announced earlier this year.
A spokesman said ParcelForce could not continue running two delivery networks, standard and express, so it is concentrating on building its express and international operations.
B2C delivery could take a step into the future with new ‘failed delivery’ trials being run by Royal Mail, Parcelforce Worldwide and Nottingham City Council. If the trials are successful it could not only give the post and parcel operators the competitive edge in the UK market, but also the psychological lift the companies have been looking for.
In an innovative new venture, Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide are trialing services aimed at putting an end to the ongoing problems of failed delivery. The project, named ‘Not-In-Home’, is being run in conjunction with Nottingham City Council, and is likely to include over 40,000 residents in the area.
Parcelforce, the heavily loss-making parcel wing of Consignia is offering more employees the chance to become self-employed owner-drivers as part of its far-reaching restructuring and cost-cutting drive. Successful trials at a number of depots, including Milton Keynes, Aldershot and Leeds, have persuaded Parcelforce to extend the scheme.
Read MoreAndrew Lester & Associates has just delivered the first of four sets of research findings on the UK parcels and packets market in 2002. The PacTrac Programme is a continuous market monitoring study that reports quarterly on parcel and packet shipments, carriers used and types of service levels required.
Read MoreEurope’s leading post offices head a £10m ( t10.6m) creditors’ list after the collapse in March of wholesaler and lettershop services provider Mail Brokers International.
And there may be more pain to come after holding company MBI Logistics followed Mail Brokers into liquidation last month.
Royal Mail, Parcelforce, Deutsche Post, La Poste, Swisspost and UPS are all owed six-figure sums. But a former MBI member of staff – one of 60 who received no salary or severance pay last month – said it was the smaller creditors he felt sorry for.
Creditors are pressuring the UK DTI to investigate MBI’s directors, accusing them of trading while knowingly insolvent.
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