Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail to present its case on quality of service failings at open meeting (UK)

Posted by | Apr 15, 2008 | |

Postcomm will hold an open meeting on 14 May at which Royal Mail will present its case on the reasons for its quality of service failures in the past year.

In June 2007, Postcomm agreed Royal Mail’s request to suspend – until the end of its current financial year – the payment of compensation to bulk mail customers, and to ensure that the company is not subject to a downward adjustment to its allowed revenues (known as the ‘C factor’), where industrial action has taken place and quality of service figures have dropped.

Postcomm agreed to the request because it wished to ensure that Royal Mail was not discouraged from taking the steps needed to modernise its business – such modernisation would be to the benefit of all mail users.

The regulator’s agreement to these suspensions was subject to it convening an open meeting at which Royal Mail would present the main points in its application. For it to be satisfied, Postcomm expects Royal Mail to be able to demonstrate that the industrial action arose as a result of carrying out its transformation plans and not for some other reason, and had a direct causal link to quality of service failures.

Major stakeholders in the postal market have been invited and offered the opportunity to ask any questions they have with regard to Royal Mail’s application; this will help ensure the regulator has appropriately considered the views of all interested parties before it makes its decision.

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Privatise Royal Mail and BBC, says report (UK)

Posted by | Apr 15, 2008 | |

The Royal Mail, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide, Scottish Water, Northern Ireland Water, Glas Cymru and the national air traffic control system should all be privatised, while government stakes in British Energy and the nuclear industry should be sold off.

That’s the main recommendation of a report by the Adam Smith Institute, which reckons the sales would raise around GBP 20bn for the government. The report ‘Privatization – reviving the momentum’ said the sales would be timely, given the state of the economy and the “increasing tightness” of public finances.

As well as financial benefits, the privatisations would boost investment, lower prices and give greater choice and better services to customers, as well as underpinning billions of pounds worth of economic activity.

The report’s author Nigel Hawkins said: “Privatisation in the UK remains unfinished business. The task for government, of whatever colour, should be to complete it and to reap the many benefits – including proceeds of some GBP 20bn.”

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Royal Mail – Five Nominations in World Mail Awards

Posted by | Apr 13, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has been shortlisted for the World Mail Awards 2008 in no less than five categories.

So far, Royal Mail has been nominated for five categories based on it’s Carbon Management Programme (Corporate Social Responsibility), International Mail Technical Website & Bag labelling System (Customer Service), Redelivery Online (E-commerce), Redelivery Online (Innovation), and for CodEffect (technology

The World Mail Awards are the most publicised and well known awards in the mail industry, although it is though that the judges are having such a tough time deciding who merits the top prize in each category this year, the results may not be announced until May.

The purpose of the awards is to recognise best practice in the mail industry. They are open to application by any postal operator, public or private. Some of the awards are also open to post office retail networks and to industry suppliers, such as equipment manufacturers or postal technology providers.

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Strike threat looms over Royal Mail centre closure

Posted by | Apr 11, 2008 | |

Union officials have warned that postal strikes in Coventry and Warwickshire are looking increasingly inevitable after Royal Mail confirmed it will continue with plans to move its mailing centre from Coventry to Northampton, a closure the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has claimed will displace 500 employees.
Royal Mail has ruled out seven sites proposed by Coventry City Council and the CWU for a proposed combined Coventry and Northampton mail centre between junctions 15 and 16 of the M1.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) Coventry branch communications officer Simon Gatherer told printweek.com that of the 1,000 employees working in and around the Coventry centre, 500 are at risk of unemployment.

Gatherer warned that if the Royal Mail continued with its plans and didn’t show willing to reconsider, then industrial action was an increasingly likely option.

Gatherer called the whole process “cloak and dagger” and said that if the process continued, “we will have to ballot our members for strike action, which at this rate, won’t be long”.
A spokesman for Royal Mail responded to the claims, telling printweek.com “the process is ongoing. We’ve looked at all the suggested sites but we need to secure the future of Royal Mail in an increasingly competitive environment.”
They added that Royal Mail would work with each employee individually to secure the best position possible.
“We can offer a good support package if they want to move the new site or we can offer them access to any positions that come up in around the Coventry area, including our Parcelforce hub at the airport.”
Talks between Royal Mail and the CWU are ongoing.

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Postal Quality of Service in Europe Remains Very High

Posted by | Apr 11, 2008 | |

Quality of letter service between postal operators in Europe continues at a very high level. It is far above both the European Union’s speed objective of 85 percent of intra-EU mail delivery within three days, and its reliability objective of 97 percent within five days.

In 2007, 94.1pct of international priority/1st class letter mail was delivered within three days after posting (J+3) and 98.7pct within five days (J+5). Average delivery time was 2.2 days. These results cover 29 European countries, i.e. the EU Member States (except Bulgaria which will be included in 2008), together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Commenting on the results, Dr Herbert-Michael Zapf, President and Chief Executive Officer, IPC, said: “One of the key results is that the posts delivered almost twice as many letters in two days as they did in 1994, when Europe-wide measurement began. In 2007, the reliability objective of 97pct in five days was already exceeded in only four days when a level of 97.9pct was reached. This is the highest level of performance so far recorded by the IPC UNEX measurement system.”

Dr Zapf added: “The results demonstrate the continuing commitment of postal operators to excellent service to customers.”

Quality of service performance is measured by IPC’s UNEX end-to-end monitoring system which is conducted independently by an external research firm. Results are based on about 400,000 test letters per year, as they move anonymously through the international mail processing system, from posting to delivery.

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