Tag: Royal Mail

Post-Switch Urges Bulk Mailers to Consider Alternatives to Royal Mail

Posted by | Mar 10, 2008 | |

Independent postal broking agency, Post-Switch is urging high volume mailers to reduce postage costs by switching from Royal Mail before it puts up its prices.

On April 2nd 2007, Royal Mail raised first class postage by 2p and second class by 1p and its commercial service ‘MailSort’ increased tariff prices by 1 pct – 3.8 pct. As part of its pricing agreement up to 2010, Royal Mail is proposing a further price hike in April 2008 of 6p.

Post-Switch is an impartial postal broker, providing expert advice on matching direct mail to the most suitable supplier at the optimum tariff. Set up in 2006, Post-Switch is part of integrated communications group, Kingfisher. It understands where savings can be made on postage and will negotiate with up to 20 rival postal providers including DHL, UPS, and TNT to achieve the best price and the best delivery date.

Post-Switch already handles over one million items of mail each month and is working with high volume mailers like Marie Curie Cancer Care and NSPCC as well as commercial operator, Network Rail. The service offered by Post-Switch delivers direct mail campaigns in 48 hours and can secure savings of up to 22.5 pct against MailSort charges.

To incentivise companies to switch from Royal Mail to another provider, Post-Switch is offering those who sign up before 2nd April a postal price freeze until the end of 2007. This means that mailings will only cost the same unit rate for the rest of the year. So, if the rival operators to Royal Mail also raise their prices, Post-Switch clients will not be affected by the increase.

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Online health check initiative for Royal Mail staff

Posted by | Mar 10, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has launched two schemes to improve the health and wellbeing of its 180,000-strong employees.

An online health checking and assessment service will let staff analyse their lifestyles and design improvement plans by accessing information on a range of areas, from nutrition to stress and exercise.

The organisation is also recruiting of a team of health trainers who will help workers to improve their health through advice and practical support.

Royal Mail is one of the leading organisations in the UK in terms of providing occupational health support to its workforce. Absenteeism at the group has fallen from 7% to 5% in the past three years.

Dr Steve Boorman, Royal Mail director of corporate responsibility, said: “As the government increasingly looks to employers to promote and sustain the health and wellbeing of UK workers, our experience provides a useful benchmark for organisations and businesses looking to reduce the impact of absence on their operations.”

Ben Willmott, employee relations adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “These two initiatives show that Royal Mail is serious about proactively supporting employee health rather than simply managing employee absence.”

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Royal Mail – pension deal is best we can offer (UK)

Posted by | Mar 10, 2008 | |

The Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail are still in disagreement over plans to introduce reforms to the pension scheme on April 1st 2008.

Royal Mail says that the increasing cost of maintaining the pension fund comes as the business faces intensifying competition in the open postal market with one in five of all letters now collected by rival companies, while mail volumes continue to fall and electronic communications increase. Royal Mail is currently making annual payments of around GBP 850 million to cover both ongoing contributions and the funding of the pension fund deficit

The CWU, in a letter to union representatives, said that it recognised that there is strong opposition to ending the Final Salary Scheme and to moving retirement to age 65.

The CWU said it was committed to listening to the views expressed during the consultation and that Royal Mail had moved ahead with a change to the pension scheme without allowing a proper consultation and ballot to take place. On that basis it would recommend that Royal Mail’s plans be rejected.

The union is asking the government and Trustees to “find alternative and more acceptable solutions.”

It also said that if Royal Mail secure agreement from the Trustees it is likely that Royal Mail would proceed with its decision from the 1st April, in which case, if CWU members supported a rejection of the company’s plans in the Consultative Ballot, the CWU would intensify its campaign.

No mention was made of industrial action or an alternative proposal, other than that one should be sought. The union insisted that any changes introduced by Royal Mail were reversible.

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Council bids to run post offices

Posted by | Mar 8, 2008 | |

Essex County Council has become the first local authority in the country to discuss taking over the running of post offices earmarked for closure.

The council is negotiating a buy-out price from the Post Office and said some 15 branches could be saved within two months.

The closures in Essex were among 2,500 nationwide announced in 2006 in a bid to stem network losses of GBP 4m a week.

Postal affairs minister Pat McFadden has given approval to the scheme.

The council set out to allay fears that council tax payers could end up subsidising what has been a loss-making business.

It said it believed it could make a profit by combining postal services with council services.

Councillor Stephen Castle said some 15 other local authorities had expressed an interest in its project and the Post Office said it was willing to work with others on similar takeovers.

“We have had interest from right across the country – people are clearly very worried about the future of their post offices,” said Mr Castle.

Council leader Lord Hanningfield called the move a “unique and groundbreaking” deal but said there is still work to be done to assess the financial merits of the plan and how best to serve the community.

“Because of this, it is too early to mention specific branches at this stage.”

The aim was for any investment to be used over three years to help each branch to move towards becoming financially self-sufficient and “cost neutral” to the council, he said.

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Royal Mail group launches health and lifestyle assessment services for its people

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

Royal Mail Group today underlined its commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of its people through two new initiatives that will give them easy access to healthy lifestyle assessment and coaching services.

An online health checking and assessment service is being launched to enable the 180,000 people working for Royal Mail, Parcelforce Worldwide and Post Office Ltd to analyse their health and lifestyles and put in place improvement plans by accessing information on a range of areas, from nutrition to stress and exercise.

And the business is recruiting of a team of Health Trainers throughout the UK who will help fellow workers to improve their health through advice and practical support. Its work with the Department of Health in developing the Health Trainer scheme in the workplace leads the way for the implementation of Health Trainers by other UK businesses.

Royal Mail Group has been addressing the biological, social and psychological causes of absence and has introduced health and wellbeing policies on an unprecedented scale. Absenteeism at Royal Mail Group has fallen from seven per cent to five per cent in the past three years.

Initiatives have included:
• A group wide programme to reduce non-attendance and sickness absence focusing on management training and HR support
• Improving access and broadening occupational health support services to include physio and occupational therapy
• Communication and awareness raising programmes health promotion materials targeting smoking and back pain.

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