Tag: Royal Mail

Postcomm confirms changes following review of 2006-10 Price Control

Posted by | Nov 26, 2007 | |

Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has, following a consultation, decided to confirm its proposals made in August 2007 that Royal Mail should be given extra flexibility to increase some retail prices and that access margins should be left unchanged. These decisions are in response to the requests by Royal Mail, TNT Post and UK Mail for a review of some aspects of the 2006-10 Price Control.

As set out in Postcomm’s proposals document published in August, this decision would allow Royal Mail to raise the price of a second class stamp to 29p by 2010, subject to inflation (the original price cap was 26p). The price cap on a first class stamp will not be affected by this decision.

In addition, Postcomm has decided to reject the requests from Royal Mail, TNT Post and UK Mail to change the margin between Royal Mail’s prices for bulk mail products and the amount Royal Mail charges other mail operators for access to its network and delivery of bulk mail over the ‘final mile’. Royal Mail had wanted to reduce the margin and the two Access operators argued that it should be increased.

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Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust wins ‘Best Campaign’ award at annual AHC conference

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust has been presented with the ’Best Campaign’ award at the annual Association of Healthcare Communicators Conference.

Awards were presented to organisations demonstrating the best in industry communications. The ’Best Campaign’ award, sponsored by Royal Mail, was won for the trust’s publicity around the hospital’s bowel cancer screening programme. The activity was described by the judges as ’a superbly devised and delivered campaign, as a pilot to a national programme that has already helped to save lives’.

The campaign, which is continuing, involves posting self-test kits to the homes of people in the target age range. Recipients are asked to take the test and send it back to the hospital for analysis, and people whose results showed an abnormality are contacted so that further tests can be carried out. The approach, which also included activity with local radio to raise awareness of bowel cancer, has proved hugely successful, with a 73 per cent response rate in its first year.

Other award winners included Knowsley Health and Social Care NHS Trust, which was presented with the ’Award of Excellence’, and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust which won the ’Best Internal Communications’ award.

This year’s conference explored the theme of ’reputation or obliteration’ through presentations, discussions and seminars with industry leaders. Speakers included David Blunkett, MP, and representatives from The Department of Health and Unison.

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Social networking sites to boost e-retailers this Christmas (UK)

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

This Christmas GBP 750m of sales will be generated by young people swapping tips on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, according to a survey published today.

Research from the Royal Mail and thinktank The Future Foundation found that these social networking websites have now become a more powerful force in deciding what we buy than word of mouth.

“An online recommendation can be a lot more powerful,” said James Murphy, editorial director at The Future Foundation.

“Seeing something written down gives it added credibility, it hangs around for longer and people are able to compare and corroborate any advice.”

The poll of nearly 1,500 people found that 66 pct bought a product following an online recommendation, compared with 52 pct who made their purchase following a verbal tip off.

Social networking sites have been the internet success story of the past 12 months. Facebook, for example, expects to have more than 60 million members by the end of the year. MySpace already claims more than 200 million users.

Chris Robinson, managing director of e-retailer Firebox.com said online recommendation is the most powerful marketing tool the company has.

“We’ve tried to build it into our business model by doing things to create those conversations, such as delivering our goods in brightly coloured boxes and adding in a free bag of sweets. It gets people talking.”

The report forecasts that by 2012, 84 pct of consumers will have access to the internet and 63 pct will be using it to buy goods online.

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Consultation Starts On Changes To Post Office Network – Post Office Ltd announces plans for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland

Posted by | Nov 20, 2007 | |

Post Office Ltd today opened a period of local public consultation on its Area Plan for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland. The formal period of public consultation is six weeks but this has been extended by ten calendar days for this plan to allow for the Christmas and New Year breaks. In line with the criteria and factors set by the Government in its Response document, DTI, The Post Office Network, Government response to public consultation May 2007 the Area Plan proposes future provision of Post Office® services through a network of 318 branches across the area, resulting in the closure of 52 existing branches.

Under the proposals, more than 99.2pct of the area’s population will either see no change to their nearest branch, or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

In addition to the 311 branches which are proposed to remain in the area, Post Office Ltd is proposing to establish 7 outreach services, which would use innovative ways to continue to provide Post Office services- particularly in smaller communities – where the existing branch is proposed for closure.

Possible types of outreach service in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland could include a mobile service visiting small communities at set times, a hosted service operated within third party premises for restricted hours each week, or a partner service within the premises of a local partner (such as a pub landlord).

The detailed Area Plan proposal for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland area is now available. Consultation is due to end on 10 January 2008.

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Missing Postwatch already?

Posted by | Nov 19, 2007 | |

Last week, the House of Lords published a Select Committee report on the UK economic regulators including Postcomm. In Chapter 5 of the report, there is a section entitled “How are consumer interests protected in the regulatory state?”

This looks at models of consumer representation and comparisons are made between the integrated model of the Ofcom Consumer Panel and the Financial Services Consumer Panel – where the consumer body sits in the regulator – and the alternative standalone model of Postwatch and Energywatch – where the consumer body sits outside the regulator.

The report concludes that:

– “Different consumer representation models operate in the regulatory state and all the regulators were vociferous in justifying their particular model. However, we believe that stand alone consumer representation bodies are more transparent and more effective.”

– “The new landscape for consumer representation has been created by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 [Consumer Voice]. We are sceptical that the proposed new arrangements will lead to improvements in consumer representation but we recognise that it is too early to judge whether our scepticism is justified. The new arrangements will need careful monitoring and this is a role that might be taken up by a sessional Committee on regulators.”

This is a reference to the fact that the CEAR Act will combine both Postwatch and Energywatch with the National Consumer Council so that, from October 2008, there will not be a sector-specific consumer body for postal services.

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