Tag: Royal Mail

World's postal sector players meet for the 24th Universal Postal Congress

Posted by | Jul 22, 2008 | |

The development gaps that separate the postal services of industrialized and developing countries at a worldwide level must be reduced for citizens and businesses to better participate in international trade, said UPU Director General Edouard Dayan.

More than 2,200 postal sector stakeholders will participate in the 24th Universal Postal Congress, taking place in Geneva from 12 August. The majority of its 191 member countries will be represented.

According to Dayan, member countries must firmly commit to modernizing their postal networks so that, globally, they can fully contribute to their social and economic development objectives. Postal services are still alive and well, he said, adding that e-mail and the Internet had not rung the death knell for them. On the contrary, he added, all means of communication complement each other, and the postal sector in this era of the Internet and online commerce has never played a more key role in today’s commercial trade.

These challenges and others will be at the heart of Congress discussions and the World Postal Strategy UPU member countries will be asked to adopt. This strategy is designed around the interoperability of postal networks, using new technologies and harmonized international standards, the development of markets and more well-defined governance rules for the postal sector. Four objectives aim to better position worldwide postal services in the light of tougher competition, the opening up of markets, the advances made by new technologies, which offer new opportunities, and the need to improve their reliability and speed to respond adequately to individual and business needs.

Congress delegates will study 560 proposals. Some 330 are of a general nature or aim to modify the UPU Acts, an international treaty signed by all member countries at the end of Congress. The other proposals, more technical, will be examined by the next UPU Postal Operations Council. It will hold its first session after Congress in October at UPU headquarters in Berne.

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Swiss Post International acquires German-based GPD

Posted by | Jul 22, 2008 | |

Swiss Post International (SPI), the international Group unit of Swiss Post, has taken over Global Press Distribution GmbH (GPD) in Germany. With this acquisition, SPI is consolidating its position in the German export press market, the largest in Europe. GPD has a staff of 31 and generated sales of CHF 8 million in 2007.
The acquisition of Global Press Distribution GmbH (GPD) by Swiss Post International (SPI) will take effect retroactively to 1 January 2008. It was agreed that the purchase price will not be disclosed. GPD, whose registered office is in Moerfelden near Frankfurt, provides services connected with the international and national dispatch of magazines. Its customers in Germany include publishers, printers, lettershops and other service providers in the publishing industry. With a workforce of 31, GPD generated sales equivalent to CHF 8 million francs in 2007.
With this acquisition SPI is reinforcing its position in the export press business. The German press market is the biggest in Europe, with 400 newspapers and 200 magazine publications. By entering this market, Swiss Post is pursuing its strategy of establishing itself in international niche markets. Swiss Post now already generates 20 percent of its sales abroad and in its cross-border business. SPI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss Post and currently employs 1,200 people in eleven European countries, five major cities in Asia and in the USA. SPI is now number five on the cross-border letters market after Deutsche Post, United States Postal Service, the UK’s Royal Mail and France’s La Poste.

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A long and stony road to European postal competition

Posted by | Jul 18, 2008 | |

Following full liberalisation in four European countries (UK, Germany, Sweden and Finland), about 54 pct of the total EU mail market in volume terms is now completely open to competition, Alex Dieke, head of Postal Services and Logistics for German-based market research institute wik-Consult, told last month’s World Mail & Express Europe conference in Budapest organised by Triangle Management Services. But experience from these four liberalised markets showed that “it will take a long time for effective competition to arrive”, he commented. In the long-term, competitors might be able to gain up to 20-25 pct of larger markets, he forecast.

In Britain, which liberalised in 2006, competitors such as UK Mail and TNT Post had gained a 10 pct market share in terms of “upstream” volumes collected from customers but there was still no major competitor to Royal Mile for “last-mile” deliveries to businesses and consumers, Dieke said. In Sweden, where the market was opened in 1993, competitor CityMail still only had about 10 pct of the market. In Finland, which liberalised in 1997, high entry barriers meant there was no real competitor to Itella. In the Netherlands, which along with Slovakia might open its market before the official EU-wide liberalisation date of January 2011, competitors Selektmail and Sandd had gained 12 pct of the market despite TNT’s remaining monopoly, he noted.

Iain McLure, CEO of Spring Global Mail, criticised European postal operators for the repeated delays to liberalisation in recent years. “How long does the postal sector need to get prepared for competition?” he asked. In future, postal operators would have to focus on offering products in line with customer demand, better customer service and opportunities to achieve cost savings, the experienced postal manger forecast.

Spring, the TNT/Royal Mail/Singapore Post subsidiary, regularly used alternatives to national postal operators in some markets in order to provide quality services and lower costs, McLure pointed out. But he stressed: “As a broker, we are more of a customer (to postal operators) than a competitor.” Spring had been profitable for the past eight years, he noted.

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Royal Mail continues to target absenteeism

Posted by | Jul 18, 2008 | |

After sickness levels reached almost 6.5 pct of the entire workforce in 2004, Royal Mail has continued to concentrate on bringing levels of absenteeism down to acceptable levels.

Whilst the tactics used by Royal Mail to get employees back into work quickly have sometimes come in for criticism, absenteeism had reached such extraordinary proportions; it had little choice but to tackle the problem from all sides. Now employees can expect phone calls at home as well as medical assesments independent of their own GP. At one point, around 10,000 workers out of a total of 170,000, were off work.

Royal Mail also introduced incentives of prize draws for staff that had good attendance records but has in more recent years tried to persuade some of it’s tobacco-hooked employees to kick the habit after it made working areas smoke-free. Time taken out for ‘fag breaks’ is said to lose employers a significant amount of money as well as contributing to poor health and fitness in employees.

This year, Royal Mail is sending a 13.6-metre mobile training vehicle to 34 Royal Mail depots to promote health & safety awareness. Staff will have access to a range of services, based around shift patterns. Despite the costs involved in tacking absenteeism, Royal Mail said it was still significantly less than money lost through time taken off by employees.

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Postcards make a comeback as holidaymakers nostalgic for traditional messages (UK)

Posted by | Jul 17, 2008 | |

The humble postcard is making a comeback, according to figures which suggest the texting generation has not abandoned the art of writing completely.

The glory days of the picture postcard was in post-war Britain.

Years after their demise was predicted, postcards are landing on British doormats in greater numbers than ever before.

The rise has been driven by nostalgia as holidaymakers return to sending traditional messages.

According to Royal Mail, 135 million post cards were delivered last year, an increase of 30 million compared to 2003.

Museums and other attractions have started to sell postcards in far greater numbers, according to a spokesman at the Royal Mail, explaining why so many more cards were being sent.

The increasing number of foreign holidays and short breaks has also helped to spark the renaissance of the humble 6 inch by 4 inch card.

The revival of the postcard goes some way to offsetting the slow demise of the stamped letter.

The Royal Mail, two months ago, admitted it handled three million fewer stamped letters each day.

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