Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail fails to address database issue

Posted by | May 24, 2007 | |

The soap opera plotline concerning the “ownership” of postal addresses has taken another twist. According to leaked letters seen by the Guardian, the latest set of negotiations between government-owned agencies over payment for address data has broken down.

The saga provides a graphic example of an issue at the heart of Technology Guardian’s Free Our Data campaign – the bureaucracy and waste that ensue when state bodies treat vital data as an asset that must be made directly profitable.

The lifecycle of 23 Acacia Avenue – and every other postal address – begins with the local council, which is responsible for assigning a street name and number to new properties. Other government-owned agencies then draw on this information for their own purposes, including the creation of proprietary databases of addresses. If councils later want to use such databases, they must pay for the right – even if they provided the original data.

Arguments over the rights of one arm of the state to use another arm’s address database have soaked up much government time and money over the past five years. The current row is over a database of postcodes, the Postcode Address File, run by Royal Mail.

This is profitable, making GBP 1.58m on revenues of GBP 18.36m in 2005-06 (Royal Mail’s postcode database reveals its profitable side, April 26). Councils in England and Wales spend about GBP 2.5m a year on postcodes (paid to Ordnance Survey and commercial businesses, as well as Royal Mail).

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Now UK Mail picks up the post at HSBC

Posted by | May 23, 2007 | |

HSBC has become the latest major bank to give Royal Mail the sack.

UK Mail, the postal arm of parcels courier Business Post, said today it now acts for three of the five High Street banks after HSBC joined Royal Bank of Scotland in ditching Royal Mail for the sorting for delivery of its bank statements.

Lloyds TSB had already switched to UK Mail’s arch-rival, the Dutch postal group TNT, but UK Mail today announced it had also picked up part of the Lloyds TSB contract.

Major customers such as the Department of Work and Pensions, the BBC, Vodafone, and Powergen helped UK Mail revenues soar from GBP 40m to GBP 90m in the year to the end of March, doubling profits to GBP 6.4m.

That compares with UK Mail forecasts at its launch in 2004 that within three years it would make GBP 10m on revenues of GBP 150m – about 3% of the GBP 5bn market.

Chief executive Guy Buswell said UK Mail missed the targets because VAT issues meant part of the market remained in favour of Royal Mail. Business Post’s group pre-tax profits doubled to GBP 9.8m but the dividend is pegged at 10.8p.

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Third Round Table of International Post-CIOs

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

IT-Managers of the Postal Organisations from Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria meet in Budapest

Since the first and second Post CIO Roundtable were very successful, the third international „Postal CIO Roundtable“ (PCR) will take place in Budapest on 24 May. The Post CIO Roundtable is an initiative launched by the Austrian post office (Österreichische Post AG), hosted by the Hungarian post office (Magyar Posta Zrt.) and is aimed at promoting information exchanges between the IT functions of postal organisations.

Although postal organisations are more than ever in competition with one another in largely liberalized markets, at this meeting of experts cooperation on the technical challenges is the focus. It is seen as a means of promoting the development of new postal IT solutions, leading to the marketing of member companies proprietary technologies. The Round Table is also viewed as a platform for establishing internationally applicable standard key performance indicators and initiating regular benchmarking processes.

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Northrop Grumman to provide postal automation systems for La Poste and Royal Mail

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that its postal automation subsidiary Solystic has been awarded contracts with La Poste (France) and Royal Mail (UK) for the supply and installation of 40 TOP2000 high-performance sorting machines for oversize mail. Each of these state-of-the-art machines will be capable of automatically sorting 38,000 flat mail pieces an hour.

“Postal operators today face increasing volumes of oversize mail from catalogues to magazines and advertisements. The competition that will result from the liberalisation of the European postal market in 2009 will create a demand for greater levels of productivity, reliability and flexibility,” said Pierre-Andre Barriere, chairman and CEO of Solystic. “The TOP2000 machine offers a sorting device that fully meets the market’s requirements, based on tried-and-tested technology, reliability and performance. These contracts position the company as a leading supplier in the industry.”

The 20 TOP2000 machines ordered by Royal Mail are part of its Flats Automation Project (FAP) and will augment the 11 machines already in service. Each piece of equipment will consist of two entry lines and between 264 and 312 outputs and will include a self-diagnostic system. The first of the new machines is expected to be delivered by November 2007.

La Poste has also ordered 20 TOP2000 machines following the successful trial with a pilot system. The devices will be equipped with two entry lines and 480 outputs. The first six machines will come on line by late 2007. Installation of the 20 new TOP2000 machines represents an important step in La Poste’s “Cap Qualite Courrier” modernisation programme.

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Lockheed Martin to add services to Royal Mail program

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

Lockheed Martin UK announced Monday that it will provide additional address recognition services to Royal Mail as an extension of the current Address Interpretation program.

Under the extended contract, Lockheed will provide the address recognition services for 20 Flats Sorting Machines and also develop, deploy and support new FSM recognition solutions to enable the machines to interact with Royal Mail’s latest hardware and operating systems.

The technology serves to decipher printed or handwritten addresses and exemplifies Royal Mail’s ongoing modernization strategy.

Lockheed provides Integrated Recognition Platform technology to postal authorities worldwide.

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