Tag: Royal Mail

No missing mail with RFID tags, says European Commission

Posted by | Jun 19, 2008 | |

With full liberalisation of all the EU’s national postal services planned for 2013, the likely increase in the number of operators will make improved traceability of sent items a vital necessity to avoid dysfunctions, the European Commission has underlined, calling for the deployment of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips to tackle the issue.

Indeed, all EU member states are requested to abolish lingering national monopolies on postal services by December 2012 at the latest. While the intention is to open the market to new entrants and make mail deliveries more efficient across Europe, there is also a risk that, with an increased number of actors involved in the process, items may get lost.

Innovations that can ensure the safe management of items are therefore needed and the Commission is looking at RFID as the “right” technology to do this.

Radio Frequency Identification chips have been already deployed by postal companies in around 50 countries across the world to measure the quality of their services.

Item-level tracking implies a massive deployment of RFID, potentially involving all the items sent. This would result in a close-to-zero risk of failed delivery.

To make this possible, RFID chips would have to be cheap, tiny, easily available and based on common standards. High-tech companies, like Hitachi or Motorola, are currently working to make chips more affordable and functional. The size has already decreased so much that now experts do not talk of chips, but of “smart dust”.

But interoperability remains a key concern. At the beginning of the year, the European Commission launched a two-year project called GRIFS to build a global RFID standards forum. All stakeholders agree on the need of talking and finding common grounds.

Common standards would indeed pave the way for a broader application of RFID technologies for end-users and not just service providers. Radio Frequency Identification tags could then become a day-to-day technology used for making payments through mobile phones or to check the origin of food purchased in a supermarket. The final stage would be the so-called ‘Internet of Things’, where active RFID could make objects communicate between themselves to automatically address daily needs.

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CWU green lights more postal strikes (UK)

Posted by | Jun 19, 2008 | |

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has voted for another round of strikes at Royal Mail, dealing a blow to the direct marketing industry after last year’s strikes cost the sector GBP 8m.
The decision comes despite the CWU’s resolution after last year’s strikes to concentrate on lobbying the government rather than resorting to industrial action.
The vote was held at last week’s union conference, where deputy general secretary Dave Ward called for the dismissal of Adam Crozier and Allan Leighton.
The decision to return to strike action was in response to pension changes, post office closures and job losses at Royal Mail. Last year’s strike action was a major factor in Royal Mail’s failure to meet operational targets.
The strike also put a major strain on the CWU’s finances amid falling membership numbers. The union admitted at last week’s conference that it needs to make some ‘difficult and unpalatable decisions’, and would be looking to identify savings in its budget.
However, the union stressed that it is still in a strong enough position to protect its members’ rights. CWU senior deputy general secretary Tony Kearns says: “Let Royal Mail – or whoever else – be in no doubt that if they take us on we will do whatever is necessary to ensure we are in a position to fight on behalf of our members.”

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Postcomm consults on licence for Mr Wesley Pollock (trading as Scotpost) (UK)

Posted by | Jun 19, 2008 | |

Postcomm today began a 30 day consultation on the proposed grant of a postal operator’s licence to Mr Wesley Pollock, a sole trader trading as Scotpost.

Under the licensing framework that took effect from 1 January 2006 and was amended in January 2008, the licence would:

– allow Mr Pollock to provide all types of postal service;
– be issued for a rolling ten year period; and
require him to comply with codes of practice on mail integrity (safety and security of the mail) and common operational procedures (designed to ensure the multi-operator market works well in practice).

The consultation notice and proposed licence can be found on the Scotpost consultation page.

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Communication Workers Union green lights more postal strikes (UK)

Posted by | Jun 19, 2008 | |

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has voted for another round of strikes at Royal Mail, dealing a blow to the direct marketing industry after last year’s strikes cost the sector GBP 8m.

The decision comes despite the CWU’s resolution after last year’s strikes to concentrate on lobbying the government rather than resorting to industrial action.

The vote was held at last week’s union conference, where Deputy General Secretary Dave Ward called for the dismissal of Adam Crozier and Allan Leighton.

The decision to return to strike action was in response to pension changes, post office closures and job losses at Royal Mail. Last year’s strike action was a major factor in Royal Mail’s failure to meet operational targets.

The strike also put a major strain on the CWU’s finances amid falling membership numbers. The union admitted at last week’s conference that it needs to make some ‘difficult and unpalatable decisions’, and would be looking to identify savings in its budget.

However, the union stressed that it is still in a strong enough position to protect its members’ rights. CWU senior Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns says: “Let Royal Mail – or whoever else – be in no doubt that if they take us on we will do whatever is necessary to ensure we are in a position to fight on behalf of our members.”

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Carl-Gerold Mende assumes responsibility for the Parcel & Logistics Division of Austrian Post

Posted by | Jun 19, 2008 | |

In the regularly scheduled Supervisory Board meeting of Austrian Post held in March of this year, Carl-Gerold Mende was appointed to the Management Board of Austrian Post, with management responsibility for the Parcel & Logistics Division. He will take office on June 16th, 2008. Carl-Gerold Mende will serve as a member of the Management Board of Austrian Post for a period of three years, with the option of extending his employment contract for an additional two years.

The main reasons underlying the selection of Carl-Gerold Mende for the position on Austrian Post’s Management Board were his impressive career credentials and extensive experience in the logistics sector.

In the light of the increased significance of the Parcel & Logistics Division for the Austrian Post Group and its ongoing internationalisation, Carl-Gerold Mende provides Austrian Post with an optimal basis to successfully operate in the future within the context of a dynamic competitive environment in the European postal and parcel delivery market.

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