Tag: Royal Mail

Whitehall ditches UK Royal Mail in favour of cheaper private rivals

Posted by | May 31, 2006 | |

UK Government departments are being told to stop sending letters via the Royal Mail because it does not offer the same value for money as its rivals, despite its huge subsidies. The Government wants to cut GBP30 million from the cost of delivering post and is urging departments and councils to consider using one of the eight private-sector suppliers. The news comes two weeks after the Royal Mail said the Government had given it GBP1.75 billion in emergency help to plug its pension fund deficit and pay for modernisation. The pressure to abandon the Royal Mail is coming from the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which negotiates business deals on behalf of Whitehall. The man responsible for negotiating with the Royal Mail has told the Treasury Select Committee that the discussions had been “not as fruitful as I would have liked”. Hugh Barrett, the chief executive of OGCbuying.solutions, said: “It is a commercial decision for the Royal Mail to make as to how far they want to lower their prices in response to competition. That is established policy. We are taking advantage of the deregulated market to get the very best deal for taxpayers in that marketplace.”

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ANALYSIS: Is Royal Mail guilty of having its cake and eating it?

Posted by | May 26, 2006 | |

News that the Government is giving Royal Mail GBP1.7bn – on top of the recent price control – to update its service and get its pension fund back on track has irked many. But the watchdogs are firmly on-side. The Government’s decision to hand out GPB1.7bn to Royal Mail has been met with fury from competing postal operators. TNT Post UK chief executive Nick Wells has branded it “murky”, adding: “The game’s not being played on a fair playing field and I’d like to know where the referee is.” Opposition parties have also hit out at the move. But what do direct marketers think? One industry source claims Royal Mail is having its cake and eating it: “Postcomm’s recent price control was very generous – we assumed it was set on the basis that there wasn’t going to be any Government aid. For Royal Mail to receive both seems very one-sided.”

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Big businesses welcome UK Royal Mail's PiP plans

Posted by | May 26, 2006 | |

Most of the UK’s top 1000 firms believe Pricing in Proportion (PiP) will have a beneficial effect on direct mail by encouraging better targeting and lower volumes, new research shows. While the changes have met with criticism from some in the industry who believe they will stifle creativity, Royal Mail’s expectation is that two-thirds of business mail will be unaffected. Research from mail communications firm Corporate Mailing Matters (CMM) supports this, revealing that two-thirds of the UK’s top 1000 firms believe PiP will result in better targeting of direct mail. CMM said the move to lower volumes has already begun, with marketers increasingly focusing on aligning customer value and the uplift in response that better targeted and more creative mailings can bring.

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Attendance levels improve 18% across UK Royal Mail

Posted by | May 25, 2006 | |

Sick absence has been cut significantly as postmen and women increased their attendance levels by 18% over the 2005-06 financial year, Royal Mail announced today. The latest improvement builds on earlier gains and underlines the success of a Royal Mail incentive scheme offering employees with a 100% attendance record the chance to win a new car in a draw. The winners of 39 Vauxhall Astras have been collecting their prizes, while 780 Royal Mail people won shopping vouchers. In total, nearly 56,000 employees did not miss a day at work during the 12 months to March 2006 and all have been sent a GBP150 holiday discount voucher as a “thank you” for their commitment.

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