Tag: Royal Mail

Postal Operators – Fuel prices hitting profits

Posted by | Jul 24, 2008 | |

Higher fuel prices are having an impact on operating profit for all postal operators, and with many European countries already investing in alternative fuel sources, the U.S. Postal Service is now looking for ways to reduce it’s annual fuel bill, expected to increase by USD 600m this year.

The U.S. Postal Service has around 195,000 local delivery trucks and is already testing alternative transport powered by hydrogen, ethanol, lpg, and electricity.

French postal operator La Poste has a long-term plan to replace as much of its fleet as possible with electrically powered cars and is already using the battery-powered CleaNova, produced by Société de Véhicules Electriques (SVE), a joint venture between Dassault and Heuliez. Italian postal operator, Poste Italiane, has continued to replace many of its vehicles with gas-powered versions and has carried out several trials on alternative fuel vehicles, with special interest on serial-hybrid vans.

Royal mail aims to reduce its fleet fossil fuel usage by 14 pct by 2010 and has already bought Smith Edison and Newton higher function delivery vehicles which have a top speed of up to 50mph and can cover up to 150 miles on one battery charge. Royal Mail recently launched a company wide awareness programme to help its 180,000 people switch to greener driving, whether for social or work driving. And almost 1,000 Royal Mail drivers have received in-depth classroom training to help them adopt more environmentally-friendly motoring practices with plans to train a further 2,000 in the coming months.

With petrol and diesel prices expected to stay high this year, alternative fuels are likely to play a greater part in the selection of replacement vehicles for most postal operators.

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Royal Mail bosses under pressure for closing profitable branches (UK)

Posted by | Jul 24, 2008 | |

MPs warn in a new report that post offices in pubs and shops could be at risk because of inadequate funding and call for more transparency in the way Royal Mail treats its public subsidy.
Ministers have told Royal Mail to close 2,500 out of 14,000 branches in a bid to cut the network’s annual subsidy by GBP 40million to GBP 150million a year and stem losses running at GBP 4million a week.
However, Paula Vennells, Post Office Limited’s branch network director, told MPs on the Business and Enterprise committee that some of the condemned branches were making money.
She disclosed that 10 profitable branches will be closed during the 18 month-long Network Change Programme – or just over one every six weeks.
The committee’s chairman Peter Luff, who is publishing the report into the financial viability of the post office network, said it “made no sense” to allow profitable post offices to close.
The committee calls on the National Audit Office to investigate the financial arrangements for so-called ‘outreach’ services which Royal Mail is setting up when it has to close branches.
They call for close examination of the relationship between Post Office and its parent company Royal Mail Group after finding that money provided by Royal Mail was not enough for the Post Office to run its services.
The MPs also said Royal Mail should provide “clear information” on what services Royal Mail expects to be provided, how it works out what to pay for them, and how much they actually cost to deliver.
They questioned whether Royal Mail was using the Post Office to “cross-subsidise” some of its mail services. Last year the network received GBP 358 million for providing mail services to Royal Mail.

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GLS inaugurates depot in Tyrol

Posted by | Jul 23, 2008 | |

The parcel and express service provider GLS Austria has opened a new EUR 2 million depot in Zirl (Tyrol, Austria). The facility’s 50 workers and drivers can handle up to 15,000 parcels a day. The 1,650 sqm handling hall with 57 docking stations is located on a 12,000 sqm plot of land directly adjacent to the Inntal motorway. Construction was completed in less than three months, the staff and equipment moved in last weekend, and a few hours later the depot went on stream, and has already processed its first shipments.

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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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