Tag: Post Office Ltd

UK village post offices: what next?

Posted by | Mar 8, 2006 | |

Innovative alternatives to the traditional post office could provide postal products to rural communities more cost-effectively, a report revealed today.
In a series of trials, more than 50 villages were provided with the products normally available in their local post office a range of different ways. A “virtual service”, in which customers could order products such as stamps over the phone or internet for home delivery, and a mobile service which tours villages in a van, were among the methods piloted by the Post Office study.
The Rural Pilot Activity also tested services where the post office was provided in a local shop or church hall or a post office employee travelled to the village to provide the service in a host premises. There are currently 8,000 rural Post Office branches, most of which make a loss. The Government pays a £150 million social network payment each year to maintain rural post offices, which it is committed to paying up until 2008.

Read More

UK LibDems back Royal Mail part-privatisation plan

Posted by | Mar 4, 2006 | |

Liberal Democrats today backed plans to part-privatise Royal Mail, in an important victory for new leader Sir Menzies Campbell. The party conference overwhelmingly endorsed proposals to sell off 49% of Royal Mail to raise money to safeguard the future of post offices. Sir Menzies’ backing was a highly symbolic nod to the right-wing modernisers of the party who want it to embrace the market. Similar plans caused a row at last year’s Lib Dem conference between the modernisers and those who want the party to remain a progressive left-of-centre force. Delegates refused to endorse the plans then, leading to a watered-down version being put before the party’s spring conference in Harrogate today.

Read More

EU says Britain clear to give post offices 150 million pounds a year

Posted by | Feb 24, 2006 | |

European Union regulators ruled Friday that Britain can pay the country’s post office 150 million pounds (EUR219 million; USD261.86 million) a year to keep rural branches open. The European Commission said it decided not to raise any objections to the government subsidy because the funding only covered the Post Office Ltd.’s duty to pay out social welfare and pensions throughout the country. EU state aid rules forbid governments granting firms aid which gives them an unfair competitive advantage over others. The Post Office, the largest European retail network by number of outlets, is an “arms’ length” retail subsidiary of the state-owned mail delivery firm Royal Mail Group PLC.

Read More

UK Royal Mail 'needs Pounds 150m' to keep 10,000 post offices open

Posted by | Feb 22, 2006 | |

Royal Mail is pressing the Government to decide whether it will renew its Pounds 150 million subsidy for rural sub-post offices. The push comes after it emerged yesterday that Adam Crozier, its chief executive, had told a group of MPs that more than 10,000 post offices across Britain could close within the next four years if the three-year support package, which ends in 2008, was not renewed. Mr Crozier said that Royal Mail needed a rump of only 4,000 post offices to fulfil its licence obligations for delivering mail. The remaining 10,500, of which 8,000 are loss-making rural offices, needed to gain extra government subsidies or become profitable to survive.

Read More

UK Post Office: Life in the old dog yet

Posted by | Feb 16, 2006 | |

The Post Office has been forced to broaden its horizons in recent years. Having branched out of its traditional sector, it now puts as much energy into competing against the likes of Barclays and BT as it does into sorting and delivering mail. Following its expansion into travel and financial services, the Post Office is looking to become a major player in the telecoms sector, launching its own directory enquiries service earlier this month to complement its fixed-line offering Homephone. Post Office head of marketing Simon Carter said last week that further product launches, which could include mobile phone, broadband or voice over internet protocol services, could follow. The Post Office has the largest retail network in Europe with 14,500 branches and 28 million customers a week. But the business is still losing more than GBP100m a year, exacerbated by the fact that pensions and child benefits are now paid directly into bank accounts. In the past, the transactions accounted for 40% of Post Office revenue. Although last week Post Office parent company Royal Mail was handed a record GBP11.7m fine for 14.6 million items that were lost or stolen last year, it is estimated that now just 25% of the Post Office’s business is handling mail. The rest is made up of travel products, government services, financial services and telecoms.

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

MER Magazine


The Mail & Express Review (MER) Magazine is our quarterly print publication. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, MER is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to MER

 

News Archive

Pin It on Pinterest