Tag: Royal Mail

Are prices set to rocket for holidaymakers in Malta and Cyprus – the newest members of the eurozone?

Posted by | Jan 7, 2008 | |

The eurozone got bigger this week as two of the most popular destinations – Malta and Cyprus – joined Europe’s currency club. But, if history repeats itself, this could prove bad news for UK holidaymakers, according to Post Office® Travel Services.

Costs for holidaymakers in Malta and Cyprus are currently lower than in eurozone countries like France and Spain, based on the Maltese lira and Cypriot pound. However, if prices rocket as they did in Spain and Greece when the first 12 countries switched to the euro six years ago, the two islands could become Europe’s most expensive resorts. This is one of the key predictions made in the new Holiday Money End of Year Report, which will be published by the Post Office® next week.

Before the 2002 changeover, Spain and Greece were the cheapest of Europe’s major holiday resorts – places where eating and drinking cost a fraction of the UK price. By contrast, Italy was, invariably, the most expensive. Within months of adopting the euro, prices had rocketed in Greece and almost doubled in Spain. Only in Portugal did euro prices stay more or less in line with the Portuguese escudo rates.

Post Office® bureaux de change branches will no longer sell Maltese lira or Cypriot pounds. However, customers will be able to exchange these currencies for sterling using the Post Office®’s buy back service until 30 January 2008. After that point, anyone wanting to exchange old Maltese and Cypriot notes will need to contact the central bank of these countries.

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Postal workers return in Oxfordshire

Posted by | Jan 5, 2008 | |

Postal workers in Oxfordshire returned to work this morning but union leaders are warning it could be Friday before any mail is delivered.

Communication Workers Union representative Bob Cullen said there was a backlog of “millions and millions” of letters and parcels at the Oxford Mail Centre in Cowley.

As a result, staff who would normally be delivering mail have been called in to help with the mass sorting operation.

Mr Cullen said: “The problem is that it is not just mail backed up in the system – the public and businesses have been told to hold back until today and there is going to be a deluge of new mail.”

Meanwhile, postal workers in the Liverpool and Glasgow areas refused to go back to work today and there are fears the wildcat action could spread nationally.

The situation is also likely to remain chaotic next week with strike action staggered across the service on different days.

Talks over pay, jobs and pensions remain deadlocked, although the CWU claims there has been significant movement.

But Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier fuelled the flames by claiming Royal Mail staff was paid 25 per cent more than workers in rival post firms.

He added that other companies in the business were 40 per cent more efficient, which is why the Royal Mail wanted a long-term solution to the current dispute to help it compete more effectively.

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Mail volumes to continue slide (UK)

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Only 37 per cent of businesses predict their mail volumes will increase over the next five years, a 13 per cent decrease from predictions made last year, according to a Postcomm study.

Postcomm’s annual Business Customer Survey among over 1,800 businesses reveals that while in 2006 50 per cent of businesses believed there would be an increase in mail volumes over the next five years, in 2007 only 37 per cent believed mail volumes would rise.

Over 40 per cent predicted the volumes would plateau, while 11 per cent of businesses predict a decrease in their mail volumes over the next five years. Financial services firms remain the biggest mailers, but use of mail in sectors such as charities, and health are set to increase.

One in five businesses have explored alternatives to using mail and have switched to other media, such as email, in the past 12 months.

The survey shows that Royal Mail continues to be the main service provider to business customers, serving 100 per cent of firms surveyed. Even customers which have moved some mail to alternative providers continue to use Royal Mail for most of their mail. Overall, 97 per cent of mail across the total sample was sent via Royal Mail. While perceptions of service quality have improved across Royal Mail and the alternative operators.

The research also reveals 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 that larger mailers have seen since the market was opened.

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How Poste Italiane is truly delivering

Posted by | Jan 3, 2008 | |

Interviewed in his Rome office, Mr Sarmi cites figures showing that in its European sector, PI, largely because of its financial services divisions, has the highest earnings before interest and tax rate of 16 per cent, compared with TNT’s 12.7 per cent, and minus 0.1 per cent for the UK’s Royal Mail.

Fortune magazine ranked PI in the top 10 “most- admired companies in the world” for logistics, while Cisco in 2007 gave the Italians the “best corporate IP network” award this year, describing them as “the European leader for hybrid electronic mail and document processing”.

In terms of volume of transactions, PI’s Banco Posta in effect ranks as the number one retail bank in Italy although it is still waiting for its licence from the treasury.

It holds EUR 300bn (USD 441bn) in savings. The life assurance division ranks number two or three, says Mr Sarmi, who has also just launched a mobile phone service that aims to attract 2m users in three years.

While Royal Mail plans to close 2,500 branches across the UK over the next 18 months, PI – which has roughly the same number, about 14,000 – added 100 more this year.

Mr Sarmi, who joined PI in 2002, wants liberalisation as soon as possible, but he says the French and Italian governments want the target date put back from 2009 to 2011. The UK market was liberalised in 2006.

Privatisation remains the Italian government’s stated goal, but Mr Sarmi sees no decision on the horizon.

Investment banks have valued the company at EUR 14bn to EUR 15bn.

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