Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail to axe two-thirds of rural bus service

Posted by | May 31, 2007 | |

Royal Mail has come under fire for axing two-thirds of a bus service that serves isolated rural areas.

Kent County Council said Royal Mail went ahead with the controversial decision despite an offer of increased financial support to keep the services going.

Post buses collect mail from post boxes and ferry people from isolated areas into and out of towns.

Nine services currently operate across the county but from September there will be only three in Gravesham and Sittingbourne.

KCC said Royal Mail originally planned to axe all the services but relented on three following urgent discussions with the county council.

The services facing the axe are numbers 301, 302 and 303 that serve villages in the Canterbury area plus 330, 331 and 332 in the Maidstone area.

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Support for postal strike growing in Britain as workers face ballot

Posted by | May 29, 2007 | |

Britain looks set for a national post strike this summer after independent polls showed that a clear majority of Royal Mail workers intend to vote in favour of action next month, The Times has learnt.

Postal workers are set to deliver a 65 per cent yes vote in favour of a national strike, according to independent polling commissioned by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the main postal union.

The percentage in favour of an all-out strike over pay, which could cripple services as early as next month, has increased from 54 per cent four weeks ago to 65 per cent last week, according to sources at the CWU.

A telephone survey of 2,000 postal workers by the Campaign Company also rates a video sent to postal employees by Allan Leighton, the chairman of Royal Mail, as the single most negative message from Royal Mail. In it he uses the word “bulls**t”.

CWU sources are believed to be increasingly confident of a convincing vote in favour of strike action over the pay dispute amid an intense campaign by both sides. Last week the union advertised in seven national newspapers to put its case over pay and services to the public and to postal workers.

Royal Mail responded with its own campaign the following day. It has also used Mr Leighton’s direct appeal to workplaces as well as letters from him and Adam Crozier, its chief executive, to employees. It is 11 years since Royal Mail suffered a national strike.

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Royal Mail produce best-ever annual performance

Posted by | May 29, 2007 | |

Royal Mail has delivered to its customers the best-ever annual quality of service against target, it was announced today.

First Class mail comfortably exceeded the official target of 93.0 per cent in 2006-07 with 94.0 per cent of letters arriving the next day. Also, 98.9 per cent of Second Class mail was delivered within three days against a target of 98.5 per cent.

Overall, 11 of the 12 targets the business is set in its licence were achieved or surpassed in 2006/07.

The business mail services which performed above target level included Mailsort (for bulk mailers), Presstream (for publishers) and PPI (Postage Paid Impression) for mail posted in pre-paid envelopes. Standard Parcels also performed at its highest level on record with a 94.5 per cent against a target of 90.0 per cent.

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‘Thanks a million’ – Post Office Financial Services welcomes millionth customer

Posted by | May 27, 2007 | |

Post Office Financial Services – a joint venture with Bank of Ireland – today confirmed its position as the fastest growing financial services provider in the UK as it welcomed its millionth customer, just over three years since launch.

Post Office Managing Director, Alan Cook said: “Post Office Financial Services entered the market with the aim of challenging what other financial services providers were offering, across all products: from car insurance to savings accounts and credit cards. Gaining one million customers in approximately 1,000 days confirms that we were right – people want easy to understand, good value products.”

The outstanding growth of Post Office Financial Services:

• Post Office sells one in 50 of all car insurance policies in the UK
• One in every 25 credit cards issued last year was from Post Office
• GBP 2 billion has been invested in the Post Office’s savings products
• One in every 200 homes in the UK is insured with the Post Office

This success builds on the Post Office’s position as the largest independent provider of travel insurance in the UK.

Post Office Financial Services was launched as a joint venture with Bank of Ireland in March 2004.

Alan Cook continued, “This is a real achievement for the business against the backdrop of the challenges we are facing. The Post Office’s entry into financial services is vital to the bigger picture of providing products and services that will help create a sustainable Post Office network.”

All of Post Office’s financial products are available by telephone and online. Information is available at all 14,000 UK Post Office branches – more than all of the UK banks and building societies put together.

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Royal Mail delays drawing on funds for modernisation

Posted by | May 26, 2007 | |

Royal Mail has yet to draw on a Pounds 1.2bn loan made available to automate its operations under a new financing framework arran-ged more than a year ago.

The investment package announced last May by Alistair Darling, trade and industry secretary, was intended to help Royal Mail compete against the new breed of private-sector postal operators after it lost its monopoly at the start of 2006.

But although big business mail users are deserting Royal Mail in droves, Britain’s dominant postal operator has failed to take advantage of the new system. HSBC and Lloyds TSB are the latest to shift their bulk mailings to UK Mail, part of the Business Post Group.

News that TNT, one of Royal Mail’s biggest rivals, has been granted the right to launch a legal challenge over the state group’s exemption from VAT will come as another blow.

The fall in business customers and the growing competition from its rivals are not the only problems for Royal Mail. The number of items of mail fell last year for the first time in decades, with most in the industry expecting further declines in the future as email and other digital messaging systems replace “snail mail”.

In addition the government has been unable to find a high-profile business executive from the private sector to be deputy chairman and succeed Allan Leighton as chairman next year. And now the postal union is balloting members on a strike over this year’s pay offer, warning of more fights ahead over changes in working practices, staff cuts and the plan to close the pension scheme to new entrants.

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