Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail 'burdened by over regulation' (UK)

Posted by | Jun 23, 2008 | |

Speaking on Jeff Randall Live, Adam Crozier said he would welcome tougher competition, but he called for less control – saying the current system is untenable.

He added: “The way the market is regulated has to change. The way the market is being regulated is not benefiting customers.”

Talking about the challenges facing the Royal Mail, he said: “We still face some huge risks.

“We have a declining market because people change the way they communicate and we have a huge pension deficit.”

Earlier this year an independent review into Royal Mail described its business model as unsustainable.

Adam Crozier maintained his commitment to running a commercial business with a social heart.

He said the universal service – the one price goes anywhere service – remained a key part of the Royal Mail.

“It remains the backbone of all the economic and social cohesion of the country. If that doesn’t work the whole thing falls about,” he stressed.

But he warned that the universal service was losing money and the current regulation system was not working and had to be changed.

There could also be more job cuts for Royal Mail staff.

In the last few years, 50,000 staff have been laid off and Crozier said there would be more substantial cuts as machines replace people.

“It’s all designed to improve the quality of service for our customers – both social and business.”

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Royal Mail Group raise over GBP 1 Million Pounds (UK)

Posted by | Jun 23, 2008 | |

In 2005, the Royal Mail Group signed a three-year campaign agreement with Help the Hospices, which was the company’s first national charity partnership. The fundraising target was GBP 1m.
Royal Mail Group offices, mail centres, Post Offices and Parcelforce depots raised funds for hospices in their local communities. About 300 community coordinators were recruited from all parts of the company to organise events such as bike rides from London to Paris and Land’s End to John O’Groats, bring-and-buy sales and local cake bakes. The group also raised funds by sponsoring the Help the Hospices team in the 2006 London Marathon and encouraging more staff to enter its Payroll Giving scheme. Royal Mail Group matched the amount raised by staff with two donations of GBP 250,000.
The company also launched a series of national fundraising projects, including a Help the Hospices stamp, the first ever to carry a charity message. A book of photographs taken by postmen and women on their rounds was published, with the proceeds going to the charity, and novelty marketing items such as reindeer food and Christmas angels were sold in Post Offices. Customers were also encouraged to donate leftover travel currency at foreign exchange counters.
The campaign raised GBP 1,966,000, almost double the original fundraising target. The number of Royal Mail group staff donating to the charity through Payroll Giving increased by more than 1,200 per cent.
This partnership is a winner for both parties: the company is committed to making a difference to the communities and also supports a national cause that touches the majority of its customers, and the charity raises both its profile and much-needed funds.

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Royal Mail pays GBP 4 million compensation to customers

Posted by | Jun 23, 2008 | |

Royal Mail paid GBP 4 million compensation to customers in the first three months of the year as complaints rose to 4,200 a day.

The figure included GBP 2.7 million for lost mail, an increase of GBP 1 million on the previous quarter.

It also paid out for damaged goods, late deliveries, failures to redirect mail and letters sent to the wrong addresses.

The total of GBP 4,004,834 in compensation was up from GBP 2.6 million in the previous quarter.

The figures heaped further pressure on Adam Crozier, the company’s chief executive, as union chiefs called for him to go.

Last month it was revealed that, while his basic salary remained unchanged at GBP 633,000, Mr Crozier’s income rose to GBP 843,000 because of a performance bonus and other benefits.

Customers claiming for lost items can claim up to 100 times the 36p first class stamp or the market value of the item, whichever is lower.

Some of the increase in complaints against Royal Mail is thought to be due to industrial action over pay and the end of last year.

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New Post Office trial of atms offers convenient, Commission-free euros and dollars at selected branches

Posted by | Jun 20, 2008 | |

UK holidaymakers can now get commission-free foreign currency from new specially designed cash machines at selected Post Office branches.

Foreign exchange ATMs are being trialled in thirteen branches nationwide, giving people even more convenience when it comes to buying their holiday cash.

Customers using the ATMs will simply be able to insert their debit cards and select one of two mainstream currencies (euros or US dollars). There will be no charge for withdrawing cash, they get the same great exchange rate as over the counter and withdrawals are commission-free too.

The new machines supplied by Bank of Ireland are being trialled to complement the extensive range of counter services already available from Post Office bureaux de change, making it even easier for holidaymakers to get their Travel Money quickly and efficiently.

The announcement comes as recent figures show that there were 309 million overseas transactions on UK-issued cards last year (three per cent of all transactions on UK-issued cards). In fact using a debit card to withdraw cash abroad is so popular with UK holidaymakers that a total of GBP 7.1 billion was withdrawn from overseas cash machines in 2007.

For those who still want to shop abroad with plastic, the Post Office® credit card is one of the few cards which offers 0 pct commission on overseas transactions or the pre-paid ‘Travel Money Card’ is available in Sterling, Euros or US Dollars.

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Post Office calls for ID contract to cut closures (UK)

Posted by | Jun 20, 2008 | |

Ministers are being urged by the Post Office to give it valuable contracts to take over the distribution of ID cards, biometric data, and e-passports, in a bid to save it from a further round of politically-damaging closures, and loss of customers.

The organisation is arguing in private talks with ministers that it is best placed to take on some of these contracts since it is already responsible for checking passport applications and has an existing national network to draw upon. Ministers in both the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Home Office are stressing that they cannot hand out the contract without open commercial competition, but see both political and business advantages to a deal.

Ministers have met top figures in the Post Office to discuss the contracts, and other ways in which government can provide customers, after the Post Office was criticised for a sweeping closure plan.

Post Office retention of such contracts of national necessity is vital if ministers are to persuade the European Union that government subsidies remain lawful under EU law. Brussels has approved a subsidy of GBP 150m a year to enable the parent company Royal Mail, wholly government-owned, to run a network of 11,500 post offices by keeping loss-making branches open.

The government has sanctioned the closure of 2,500 post offices by the end of the year in a programme that has met fierce resistance across the country, but is designed to cut post office losses. The network lost GBP 200m in 2006-7, while Royal Mail is handling 3m fewer letters a day than last year.

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