Tag: Royal Mail

Direct Marketing – Unwanted nuisance or useful service?

Posted by | Oct 19, 2006 | |

As Royal Mail lifts the cap, Philip Chadwick finds out if we will be flooded with wasteful junk.

Judging by the current barrage of negative press, the direct mail industry should be feeling more beleaguered than England football coach Steve McLaren.

And just when it thought things couldn’t get any worse, last Monday the Local Government Association (LGA) waded into the furore, which began when Royal Mail announced plans to scrap the cap on unaddressed mail (PrintWeek, 3 August). Reports suggest that the LGA’s chair, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, had written to the Royal Mail arguing that such a move could leave council tax payers facing larger bills.

The LGA indicated it had ‘grave concerns’ about the plans, which would cause ‘unnecessary rubbish’. It claims 78,000 tonnes of ‘junk mail’ reach landfill sites each year and the cost of disposing waste has risen in the past year by pounds 205m.

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Momentum grows for major postal operators backing EU liberalisation plan

Posted by | Oct 17, 2006 | |

On the eve of the debate over postal opening, Deutsche Post (Germany), Posten AB (Sweden), Suomen Posti Oyj (Finland), TNT (The Netherlands) and Royal Mail (UK) are joined by Charlie McCreevy, Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Jürgen R. Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Professor at INSEAD and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In this joint event taking place in Brussels today, the group intends to demonstrate that full market opening must take place in 2009 to allow postal operators to benefit from changes that are shaking the global communications market. It must be seen as an opportunity to restructure organisations for increased operational, service efficiency and customer-orientation. Furthermore, a modern and flexible universal service to the benefit of residential and small business users can be maintained in an open market.

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EU to take next step in postal reform, national monopolies must cease by 2009

Posted by | Oct 17, 2006 | |

The European Commission will announce the next step in its liberalisation of Europe’s postal services tomorrow, with deliveries of letters under 50 grams open to competition by 2009, said Oliver Drewes, spokesman for EU internal markets commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

The commission will debate the proposals at its weekly meeting tomorrow before announcing plans to free up the market for letters in Europe, following on from its 2002 directive on parcels and letters over 50 grams.

Currently, historical operators may still hold national monopolies on letters weighing less than 50 grams in Europe.

According to a report in Belgian daily La Libre Belgique, which says it has seen the proposals, the UK, the Netherlands, Scandinavian countries and Germany have been the most successful in terms of ending the monopoly of traditional postal services providers and introducing competition.

The Belgian and French post offices are widely expected to be announced as the worst offenders in liberalising markets.

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Union angered by Royal Mail shake-up plans – Industrial action threatened as managers are told they must reapply for their own jobs

Posted by | Oct 15, 2006 | |

The Royal Mail is forcing managers to reapply for their jobs, putting it on a collision course with a leading union and at risk of industrial action.

The state-owned postal service is reviewing its management structure, and has asked a number of managers to reapply as part of the process.

A spokesman said: “Royal Mail is facing tremendous challenges and changes. This effects everybody in the company. Our managers, just as much as our postmen, are committed to making sure that we’re delivering customer service and the right leadership.

The Royal Mail has 1,500 delivery offices, each of which has at least one manager. Insiders say the Royal Mail is seeking only to shake up the management structure, and is not looking to cut jobs.

But Amicus, which represents Royal Mail managers, is worried that jobs will still be lost and has not ruled out industrial action.

Brian Scott, assistant national secretary, said the union had already held meetings with the Royal Mail but so far had failed to come to an agreement.

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Royal Mail rival plans to employ its own postmen

Posted by | Oct 13, 2006 | |

Royal Mail’s biggest rival wants to put its own postmen and women on the streets across the country within five to ten years in the biggest assault on the state-owned postal group’s business.
TNT, which has the largest share of the competitive postal market with 1.2 billion items this year, is expected soon to begin a trial of its own delivery system in a city centre and then follow that with deliveries in the UK’s main cities. Peter Bakker, chief executive of TNT, said the growth of TNT in the UK meant that it wanted to have its own delivery network “sooner rather than later” and that this could be achieved in five to ten years if growth continued at its present rate.

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