Tag: Republic of Ireland

A refusal to allow a 12c increase on the price of a stamp could lead to 70m losses for An Post in four years time, it has been claimed. Communications Regulator ComReg’s block on a stamp price hike from 48c to 60c for a standard letter threatens the financial recovery of An Post, the High Court has heard.
An Post chief executive Donal Curtin claimed ComReg has put An Post “back on a financial knife edge in the immediate future”. If An Post does not get an adequate price increase, it will lose at least 6m this year, break even next year, and losses will grow to 5m in 2008, 30m in 2009 and 70m in 2010, he said.
The High Court yesterday granted An Post leave to challenge the regulator’s decision.

A survey by ComReg found that the bulk of Irish businesses continue to rely solely on An Post for their postal services. The survey, conducted in November 2005 amongst 500 businesses, found that only 12 per cent used service providers other than, or as well as, An Post. This figure is similar to that found in earlier surveys. Of the other service providers used, DHL was the one most frequently mentioned, followed by FedEx and UPS. Companies in the financial services sector were found to be the greatest users of postal services. In general, companies that used the service a lot were found to be using it more, while those that use it sparingly were found to be using it less. The most regularly quoted reason for using a service provider other than An Post was that it provided greater reliability and guaranteed tracking. The survey found that the businesses spent an average of EUR6,000 on postal services with An Post in 2005, and that awareness of service providers other than An Post was fairly low.