Tag: Royal Mail

DMA slams ‘farcical’ UK postal price controls

Posted by | Sep 9, 2005 | |

The DMA (UK) has hit out at Postcomm’s proposed four-year price control scheme for Royal Mail, branding the regulator’s plan to measure quality of service “farcical”. The trade body, which also questions why mailing clients should be forced to pay for Royal Mail’s pension deficit, has submitted its response to Postcomm’s consultation. David Robottom, director of postal affairs and industry development at the DMA, explains: “Price control is a complex issue that needs to be fully understood. We believe Postcomm must be wary of customer expectations of lower prices once the market opens, as they aren’t likely to change much. The plan to group products for quality of service is farcical.

“Royal Mail’s pension deficit is set to be met by users under the consultation, and we believe this is wrong. The responsibility should fall on Royal Mail and the Government, not users.”

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Postal changes will hit rural communities, warns UK Royal Mail boss

Posted by | Sep 9, 2005 | |

Rural communities across Scotland will suffer if proposed changes to postal services go ahead, the chief executive of the Royal Mail warned yesterday. Adam Crozier also said job cuts at the Royal Mail are inevitable as the organisation strives for greater efficiency. But he insisted there are no plans to close any more post offices north of the border. Mr Crozier was speaking as the Royal Mail unveiled findings of a study highlighting its impact on Scotland’s economy. His comments will re-ignite concerns that proposed changes to UK mail delivery services will lead to an inferior service for the Highlands and Islands.

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Printers voice concern over UK mail pricing changes

Posted by | Sep 8, 2005 | |

It has been a long wait, but all systems are now go for Royal Mail’s plans for size-based pricing. Postcomm has given it the all clear and Pricing in Proportion (PiP), as it’s now called, will be phased in by August 2006. The announcement two weeks ago has been heralded as “the greatest change in postal pricing since the introduction of the Penny Black”. In the B2B publishing sector, it has also been the most controversial. PiP is likely to result in postal price increases for A3-sized magazines. They now come under the large letter format and that means a higher price bracket. “It will be the lighter-weight A3 titles that will suffer,” explains PPA director of circulation Nicola Rowe. And this could mean a rethink by B2B publishers over future magazine sizes. The magazine sector, which relies heavily on posting out issues, will be hit the hardest. “It hits us purely from a distribution point of view,” says William Reed production director Chris Reed. “It’s a matter of trying to find a solution to get around it.”

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UK postage cost rise to be offset by credit scheme

Posted by | Sep 8, 2005 | |

Large business postal users will be reimbursed for some of the extra costs incurred when changes to mail pricing come into force in September 2006.
Under the new pricing scheme smaller but heavier items will become cheaper while larger bulkier letters and packages will become more expensive to send. The changes are expected to affect prices on around 30 per cent of business mail. But business users spending GBP100,000 or more a year and whose postal charges rise by at least 50 per cent under the new pricing structure will be reimbursed 40 per cent of their additional postal charges by Royal Mail in the first year. They will also recoup 20 per cent of the costs in the second year, with reimbursement taking the form of postal credits. However, Nicola Rowe, director of circulation at the Periodical Publishers Association described the 50 per cent threshold as “unrealistically high”. She said: “We are disappointed that Postcomm has chosen to wash its hands of the mitigation scheme and to leave the detail to Royal Mail.

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Royal Mail set to ‘lose a third’ of its market when letter monopoly ends

Posted by | Sep 4, 2005 | |

The Royal Mail is to face a three-way battle for customers and will lose up to a third of its revenues, one of its main rivals is predicting. Peter Bakker, the chief executive of Dutch post and logistics group TNT, says he expects at least two serious rivals to emerge to Royal Mail when its monopoly on letter delivery ends next year. Each, says Mr Bakker, will take 10 to 15 per cent of Royal Mail’s business. He was speaking as another of the expected challengers to Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, was revealed as the suitor of Exel Logistics, the UK delivery group. Both Deutsche Post and TNT are already making inroads into the UK postal market, though mostly in what is known as the ‘access’ area. This is where post is collected from business clients, scanned and sent to regional centres, where it is then passed to the Royal Mail for sorting and delivery.
Mr Bakker said his group soon hopes to be in the ‘consolidation’ area, where TNT will sort mail but Royal Mail staff still deliver. It is installing high-tech sorting equipment in its 69 regional hubs in the next few months.

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