Tag: Royal Mail

Postal operators must focus on innovation

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

“Innovation is an essential element in planning and preparing for the future. Being innovative is the only way the postal sector can remain competitive,” said Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union.

Over the past few years, Dayan said, postal operators worldwide have shown an ability to innovate, especially in creating services that facilitate e-commerce, an industry fuelling the growth of parcels and small packets.

He cited the development of e-services and payment services as two areas in which postal operators have made great strides in order to meet customers’ need for new ways of sending messages and making financial transactions as they increasingly use the Internet to conduct daily activities.

According to UPU statistics, more than 80 pct of postal operators in industrialized countries and 40 pct in developing countries offer innovative messaging services such as secure e-mail, hybrid mail and electronic changes of address.

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Vendors announced for Royal Mail mobile project

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has announced the suppliers for its national mobile service project which will see 25,000 postal delivery workers equipped with handheld devices.
As reported by Computing in July, the introduction of the devices is part of a GBP 1.2bn IT-driven business transformation at Royal Mail designed to improve customer service by verifying the status of tracked letters or parcels.
The handheld devices are being supplied by Intermec, while CSC will develop and maintain the systems supporting the service. The CSC team also includes Blackbay, a provider of mobile workforce systems.
Royal Mail van drivers will be able to capture signatures at the point of delivery, eliminating the current paper-based processes.
Some 70,000 staff who delivers items by foot or bicycle will continue using a paper-based system to record signatures and delivery times, but the devices will roll out to all postal delivery workers in the future.
Trials for the handheld computers began late last year.

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Royal Mail hits TV screens with new campaign (UK)

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is to change the focus of its marketing and communications from the consumer sector toward businesses, partly to remind big companies that it still exists, but, more significantly, to position the brand as the postal operator of choice for small and medium-sized firms.
This repositioning will begin this month with a ‘Partners for Growth’ campaign targeting the UK’s 4.3m SMEs. An above-the-line push, by ad agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, will comprise TV, press, direct and digital activity.
The drive will direct prospective customers to a 15-step online questionnaire that asks respondents about their business needs. Within two hours, those who have completed the survey will receive a personalised ‘growth pack’ containing information about how Royal Mail can help them. The idea is to publicise some of the brand’s lesser-known business services, including data provision and media consultancy.

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Postwatch Warns Of Turbulent Times Ahead For UK Postal Industry

Posted by | Sep 25, 2008 | |

Postwatch, the UK watchdog for postal services, is to be disbanded, the majority of staff being made redundant. In just six days time, the work of postwatch is to be scaled-down and merged with energy watch and the National Consumer Council to form ‘Consumer Focus’.

Chair of Postwatch, Millie Banerjee, has written to Pat McFadden, the Minister responsible for the postal industry, giving her views on the challenging and turbulent times faced by the key players in the UK postal industry but was only cautiously optimistic that with the loss of regional representation, customers would be adequately supported and that there were likely to be “interesting and turbulent times ahead”.

Alongside the letter was a copy of Postwatch’s final publication, ‘Post, present and future’. The book gives a brief account of the postal scene as seen from Postwatch during its seven years of operation and some thoughts on the future and the challenges ahead. In her forward to the book, Millie listed the issues (the pension fund deficit, the cost of providing the universal postal service, declining mail volumes, poor industrial relations and the need for support for the post office network) that have come to dominate the postal sector.

She said she hoped that the forthcoming review of postal services would lead to speedy and positive action from the industry and the Government but from October 1st, championing the cause of postal customers would be shared among a number of organisations, notably Consumer Focus, Consumer Direct, Royal Mail, Post Office Limited and Postcomm.

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Businesses worried by Royal Mail changes

Posted by | Sep 23, 2008 | |

Small businesses are being hit financially after the morning collection was abandoned by Royal Mail, a situation that could get worse when more Post Office branches close, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has said.

A Post Office spokeswomen said that the developments are “the way it is” after a network change carried out by Royal Mail.

Director of financial services company Gaia Partnership Brigid Benson claimed that errors are no more commonplace since the changes were implemented.

A spokesman at Postwatch, the watchdog, in turn suggested that the current Post Office network is “unsustainable” in its existing guise.

Because the “long-term” future of the system has to be strengthened, managed change is the correct idea, he added.

He also asserted that customers are encouraged to give feedback before any alterations are made.

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents has this week said that retail outlets with sub post offices facing closure should look at other ways to generate income.

Citing a report carried out by the government, the FPB added that smaller firms have not benefited from Post Office restructuring.

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