Tag: Royal Mail

Why postal privatisation delivers

Posted by | Jan 4, 2007 | |

Who would have though that this time last year, it was predicted that Royal Mail would lose over £600m worth of business by 2008, as a result of the postal market opening to competition on January 1 2005.

The claim, which could almost have come out of Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton’s very own spin-machine, was actually made in an independent study by Corporate Mailing Matters.

The research, in which 300 top UK business mailers were quizzed on how they expected volumes to shift after deregulation, claimed 17 per cent of the market would to move to alternative providers, with corporate mailers shifting swathes of business to force price reductions and service benefits.

Read More

Privatisation is still best option for UK Post Offices

Posted by | Jan 4, 2007 | |

Queues at post offices apparently were longer than usual in the run-up to Christmas, as people sending different sizes of cards and gift parcels had to worry about the new rules on dimensions and weights of envelopes.
For many, this experience will not be repeated. One in six of the UK’s 14,300 post offices will be closed either this year or next. Add in about 4,000 that have already gone since Labour came to power a decade ago and a third of the network will have been cut in a dozen years. Commercial banks could only stand and admire this brutal approach.
Protecting and improving public services was top of Labour’s agenda. Post offices count as a public service to many people. but not perhaps in Whitehall’s definition.
If asked, most voters would oppose closures per se. Some might think differently if presented with the figures given to ministers by Royal Mail. It claims that only 4,000 offices are profitable and network losses will double to Pounds 200 million in this financial year. Such alarming figures are inevitably a matter of choice in any integrated business, or the NHS. Internal accounting is flexible because overheads can be allocated wherever management wants. Under EU rules, the state ought not to subsidise competitive mail or parcels services. It can still fund post offices that were, until recently, used heavily as outlets for state business.

Read More

Increased benefits for UK business mail customers from 2007 postage prices

Posted by | Jan 2, 2007 | |

Two new products and enhancements to existing services, aimed at business customers and large volume mailers, will be introduced on 2 April 2007, Royal Mail announced today. These are part of the changes to postage prices that will come into effect next year in line with the four-year price control set by postal regulator Postcomm in March 2006.

One of the new products is Automated Standard Tariff Large Letter. This offers business customers sending a minimum of 250 large letter-sized items that can be machine sorted discounts of between six to nine per cent.

Another new product – Cleanmail Advance – will offer easier access to discounts for customers sending more than 1,000 items with correct and machine readable addresses.
Royal Mail is also introducing enhanced volume-related discounts for some of its Mailsort business mail services. These include more volume-related thresholds that attract a discount, and a lowering of the minimum threshold, to enable a larger number of smaller mailers to qualify for a discount.

Prices will continue to decrease for heavier weight items, which will support the growth of the online retail market.

Read More

Message to ministers: Future of Royal Mail requires judgment of Solomon

Posted by | Dec 29, 2006 | |

Royal Mail’s letters business is a conundrum. A state-owned organisation operating in a free market. Charged with making profits but obliged to offer a universal service delivering to 27m addresses six days a week. The competition wants to dig deep into its market share and for a year has had the freedom to do so. Top management wants to open up the share capital to the workforce – a proposal that leaves the government facing a judgment that would stretch Solomon.

Yesterday regulator Postcomm delivered its verdict on the first year of liberalisation of the 80m letters-a-day market which has pitted the 350-year-old monopoly against almost 20 challengers. The conclusion? So far, so good – but it’s not going to get easier. Price sensitivity, alternatives such as email and the need for innovation mean tough times for the industry as a whole, while Royal Mail also faces the need to adapt and invest.
According to Postcomm the introduction of full-scale competition has given postal service users greater choice and lower costs and has spurred Royal Mail into dramatically improving its service.

Read More

TNT UK aims for final-delivery business

Posted by | Dec 29, 2006 | |

Orange-clad postal workers are expected to hit the streets next year, putting the state-owned Royal Mail under pressure.
TNT, a subsidiary of the privatised Dutch postal group, says it wants to send postmen and women wearing orange uniforms – TNT’s corporate colour – out to deliver mail to homes and workplaces in selected cities.
The company already handles more than 5 per cent of UK mail, through contracts with business customers to collect and sort their post before handing it overfor delivery by Royal Mail under so-called “downstream access” arrangements.
Nick Wells, chief executive, said the company had adopted a dual strategy of using downstream access while developing its own collection and delivery service.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

How ready do you feel for the de minimis changes coming in July?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!




View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest