Tag: Royal Mail

Second anniversary of the liberalisation of the UK postal market

Posted by | Dec 28, 2007 | |

Postcomm has found competition in its second year is starting to benefit more and more mail users, but has urged all operators to rise to the challenges posed by the digital age.

Research commissioned by Postcomm in 2007 found the benefits that large mailers have been experiencing since the market was opened have now started to slowly spread to smaller businesses. However, much more progress is needed and the challenge posed by the growing number of alternatives to mail confirms the need for mail operators to continue to pursue greater innovation.

The market research, which formed part of Postcomm’s annual Business Customer Survey, revealed that although Royal Mail remains the dominant operator, one in five small and medium mailers and more than a third of large mailers are using more than one mail provider.

Postcomm’s annual Competitive Market Review (CMR), found that mail volumes were 2 per cent down on last year, but there are indications that direct mail is growing in sectors such as building societies, charity, and health.

End-to-end competition has declined by four million items and stands at less than one per cent of total mail volume, but mail volumes collected by ‘access’ operators and delivered by Royal Mail have more than doubled and now represent 19 per cent of revenue-derived mail volumes.

The research shows that a larger number of small businesses are beginning to benefit from competition, but much more needs to be done before small firms can experience the full benefits of competition that larger mailers have seen since the market was opened.

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PostEurop call Council of the European Union to resume negotiations on VAT legislation for postal services

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

The postal industry needs a reliable VAT legislation. The 6th VAT Directive no longer provides for legal certainty as demonstrated by the infringement procedures most recently launched by the European Commission. Moreover, taking into account the changes that the industry has undergone in the past 10 years, modernizing VAT regulations seems reasonable.
On May 5th 2003, the European Commission issued a “proposal for a directive amending directive 77/388/EEC as regards VAT on services provided in the postal sector” (COM/2003/234).
It provides for equal treatment of postal services in term of taxation. It also introduces an option to apply reduced VAT rates for certain postal services with the intention to limit any increase in postal prices due to the introduction of VAT.
On March 11th 2004, the European Parliament agreed to the introduction of VAT in public postal services. The European Parliament has proposed to make the application of a reduced rate mandatory.
The deliberations (2 July 2003 to 15 June 2004) within the Council failed in the absence of the required unanimity and negotiations have been suspended for about 3 years now.
On 23rd March 2006, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings by sending letters of formal notice to the UK, Sweden and Germany on the VAT application of postal services.
The rules governing the application of VAT should not be left to finally decisions by the ECJ based on an interpretation of the 6th VAT Directive (dating back to 1977). The decision how to apply VAT on postal services is essentially a political one and therefore needs to be agreed upon by the Council.

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Post Office research: Over a third of UK workforce at work over Christmas period

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

This Christmas 40 per cent of the UK workforce will be at work for some or all of the Christmas period (25 December – 1 January) despite the fact that over half of them (52 per cent) will lose holiday entitlement as a result.

According to new research released today by Post Office® Travel Services, 25 per cent of people surveyed are working because they have too much work to do to take time off. A further 58 per cent couldn’t take annual leave because of shift rotas or other colleagues getting in there first. And a handful admitted they liked their jobs so much they would rather be there than at home or on holiday with loved ones.

It appears we are a truly a nation of workaholics. As well as those missing out on their holiday entitlement by working through Christmas, the research also showed nearly four in ten UK workers (37 per cent) won’t have taken their full annual holiday entitlement by the end of 2007, meaning a staggering 1.3 billion* days holiday will be lost.

People working for the government or public sectors are most likely to work over the Christmas period (75 per cent) as well as lose some of their holiday entitlement (59 per cent). Those working in the service industry are least likely to lose their holiday days (13 per cent) and those working in advertising, marketing or PR are least likely to be working over the holiday period (11 per cent).

Men are worse than women at booking their full holiday quota with 39 per cent of men losing out compared to only 32 per cent of women.

Of those who claimed to be losing their holiday entitlement, nearly half (49 per cent) will lose between four and seven days and seven per cent will lose three weeks or more (15 days). Regional differences show that over a third (36 per cent) of workers from East Anglia have a staggering three weeks or more holiday remaining, whereas only 25 per cent of those working in Lancashire have any holiday entitlement left to take.

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Online shopping complaints rise (UK)

Posted by | Dec 24, 2007 | |

Complaints about the late arrival of online deliveries have risen by a third in the run-up to Christmas, according to a government advice service.

Consumer Direct says it has received 3,000 complaints in six weeks.

Royal Mail says the “vast bulk” of Christmas post will arrive on time and online retailer Amazon says its delivery success rate is above 99 pct.

Meanwhile, retailers reported Saturday was their busiest day of the year with sales exceeding expectations for many.

The UK’s 27 million online shoppers are expected to have spent GBP 15bn online in the run-up to Christmas Day – up 60 pct on last year, according to Interactive Media and Retail Group (IMRG), the industry body for the electronic retail community.

Online retailers use a variety of courier companies to make deliveries to customers, as well as Royal Mail.

Amazon says it has been dispatching 750,000 parcels a day in the run-up to Christmas.

Royal Mail has predicted that it will deliver a record 120 million items ordered over the internet this festive season – double the number handled three years ago.

In total, it expects to deliver some two billion items of Christmas post.

Royal Mail’s workforce has been boosted by an extra 20,000 members of staff in the four week run-up to Christmas, with more than 2,000 staff taken off non-operational duties to help with deliveries.

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Cash counts at Christmas – 50 per cent of people give money as a Christmas gift

Posted by | Dec 24, 2007 | |

Anyone still looking for a last minute Christmas gift may be set to join half of people (50 per cent)* across Britain in giving cash as a Christmas gift this year.

For the over 55s it’s a particularly popular choice with almost two thirds (64 per cent)* of the over 55’s opting to send cash gifts to people, including their children and grandchildren at Christmas.

For 35 to 44 year olds there’s a role reversal with one in ten (11 per cent) giving cash to their parents during the festive season.

For people who have left it until the last minute to send their cash in time for Christmas Day, MoneyGram® from the Post Office® offers a quick and easy solution to their cash gifting dilemmas.

In just ten minutes**, cash can travel from any Post Office® branch to and from outlets nationwide. And with 125,000 locations in approximately 170 countries and territories worldwide, whether your money is travelling to Southampton or South Africa, it’s never been easier to use the Post Office® and MoneyGram® service.

The Post Office® and MoneyGram now offer by far the largest international money transfer network in the UK and have a fully computerised service making it even faster to send and receive cash too.

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