Tag: Royal Mail

Deliveries set to be more colourful

Posted by | Aug 8, 2006 | |

Postal deliveries are set to get more colourful in the north west – and bike-riding posties dressed in bright orange could soon be a familiar sight.

For a rival to Royal Mail is planning to have a team of delivery men and women in place by Christmas.

They will be dressed in orange because it is the company colour of TNT, part of the Royal Dutch Post Office.

With post office deregulation in Britain, a subsidiary of the firm – TNT Post North West – has been launched to cater for bulk deliveries for small and medium-sized companies.

The company collects, sorts and franks mail from SMEs then passes them to the Royal Mail to deliver, all for a discounted rate of around 19.5p a letter, as opposed to 23p from Royal Mail.

But TNT Post North West is aiming to grow its volume to such an extent that it will complete the service, with its own orange-uniformed postmen and postwomen making the deliveries.

The company, set up in March, has a staff of six, and is based in Audenshaw, but is poised to move to larger premises in Denton.

MD Andrew Goddard hopes the firm will be handling 15 million items in its first year.

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Parcel services circle Belgian rival

Posted by | Aug 7, 2006 | |

Leading European parcels delivery groups were on Friday, Aug. 4, circling ABX Belgium, the domestic parcels service that the Belgian national railway company Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges, or SNCB Holding, must sell by the end of the year.
An SNCB spokesman declined to comment on reports that several players — General Logistics Systems BV, or GLS, the Oude Meer, Netherlands-based European parcels arm of Britain’s Royal Mail Group plc; Dutch logistics, deliveries and postal services group TNT Holding BV; and the Belgian postal service De Post/La Poste — might drive in an offer.

However, the SNCB spokesman did confirm that “different parties” were interested in the business.
One banking source, who declined to be identified, said the three groups would be at the top of his list of likely buyers, though he thought France’s GeoPost SA, the parcels service of the French post office, should not be ruled out as a possible bidder. He also said United Parcel Service of America Inc., which last year bought U.K. parcel delivery group Lynx Express Ltd. and had signaled plans to grow further in the sector, could also be a player.
The parcels business, which the banker said could fetch around euro 70 million, roughly equivalent to annual revenue, has been carved out of ABX Logistics Worldwide SA/NV, the international freight-forwarding business that SNCB sold to 3i Group plc and Fortis Banque SA/NV on Aug 3

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Small firms balk at post increases

Posted by | Aug 6, 2006 | |

Smaller businesses are concerned that changes to the Royal Mail’s postage rates this month will increase costs and mean more administration.
A survey by the Forum for Private Business, which represents about 25,000 small and medium-sized UK firms, has revealed that more than a quarter of the companies questioned believe their postage costs will rise by 15 per cent or more.
More than 60 per cent of companies think that not only will their costs increase but that they will have to spend longer on administration after the new size-related system is implemented on August 21.

The “pricing in proportion” scheme is the first significant move in Royal Mail’s strategy to become a competitive business after the industry was opened to competition at the beginning of this year.

The change to the post office’s pricing is costing Royal Mail more than pounds 20m, including pounds 10m spent on a marketing campaign.

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Wales attractive to businesses according to Royal Mail’s business barometer

Posted by | Aug 4, 2006 | |

Welsh towns and cities are proving attractive to both established companies and new start ups according to Royal Mail’s latest Business Barometer out today.

The Business Barometer*, a detailed analysis of active business growth within the UK, reveals that both Swansea and Newport moved into the top 10 UK towns and cities with the highest business population growth.

In Royal Mail’s business league for October 2005 – March 2006, Swansea jumped 13 places from its ranking in April – September 2005 to take second place with an impressive 4.11% increase. In the previous study, Swansea’s business population growth was 2.23%.

And Newport climbed 44 places to ninth spot with a 2.85% business growth compared with 1.74% previously.

The Royal Mail study also revealed that the Top 100 towns ranked by active business population show an average 2.96% business growth, an increase of 55% on the period April 2005- September 2005, which recorded an average rise of 1.78%.

Stockton-on-Tees in Cleveland topped the latest league table with 4.45% business growth while Liverpool secured third spot with 4.09%.

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Post office® boosts Instant Saver rate to 5%

Posted by | Aug 3, 2006 | |

From 29th August 2006 the Post Office® is increasing the rate on its Instant Saver account from 4.75% to 5.0%*, in line with the new Bank of England base rate rise.

The rate will be available to new and existing Instant Saver customers.

Richard Norman, Head of Savings, said: “The Post Office® is committed to offering customers great value and we want to pass this new rate on to savers as soon as possible so they get the most out of their money.”

Post Office® Instant Saver is guaranteed to remain within 1.0% of the Bank of England base rate and the account offers six free withdrawals a year with a flat fee of just GBP 1 for future withdrawals.

Instant Saver is available at all of the UK’s 14,300 Post Office® branches, by telephone and online. Withdrawals can be made both at branches and ATMs, offering unrivalled choice and convenience.

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