Tag: Royal Mail

TNT, Murdoch to compete with UK Royal Mail

Posted by | Jan 19, 2005 | |

Rupert Murdoch has linked up with another giant of Australian business, TNT, in its bid to compete with Britain’s state-owned postal service Royal Mail. Transport and delivery company TNT has entered Britain’s letter market with its TNT Premier service which guarantees delivery in 48 hours and handles one million items a week. As its service expands and the market opens up, however, TNT and other private mail providers have complained about Royal Mail’s “dirty tricks” and uncompetitive behaviour. Murdoch’s pay TV network BSkyB is the latest of five major customers to defect from Royal Mail to TNT, including food distributor Booker and mail order firm Express Gifts, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.

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UK Royal Mail’s market share being eroded

Posted by | Jan 19, 2005 | |

Royal Mail’s monopoly of the postal market is starting to be eroded, as rival mail companies poach the group’s biggest business customers. TNT Mail, owned by the Dutch post office, said yesterday it had won contracts to handle mail for several high-profile corporate clients, including Sky. The company said that it was handling nearly 1m items of post every week. Business Post, owned by UK Mail, has been operating in the UK since early last year and boasts clients such as Powergen, while DHL Global Mail, part of Deutsche Post, will launch its own UK business at the end of this month. Andy Barrett, head of marketing at DHL Global Mail UK, said the group had signed contracts with two large business customers. Although private sector competition to Royal Mail is growing rapidly, the state-owned group is expected to retain its market dominance for many years.

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Post Office’s branch lines: Expansion of services is a counter revolution

Posted by | Jan 16, 2005 | |

IF YOU think that the Post Office is just a place to buy stamps or pick up a form to renew your passport, you haven’t been in for a while. From the array of financial services now on offer you could be forgiven for thinking that the Post Office has turned into a bank, and with the launch of its new telephone landline service last week, it is assuming the role of a utility provider too.
It is only a little over two decades since the Post Office lost control of the bulk of the supply of phone services in Britain, when Margaret Thatcher split telecoms off from the high street and mail side of the business in 1981, and subsequently privatised the newly named British Telecom. Now the Post Office has returned to the telecoms market with its Homephone service, which it says it hopes will take a million of BT’s 21 million customers over the next three years, by undercutting its charges by up to 20 per cent. As the controversy rages over branch closures – and there are more on the way – the Post Office, which is seen as being at the forefront in providing financial services for the ‘unbanked’, is pulling out all the stops to find a new role.

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Small shops in revolt against UK Post Office

Posted by | Jan 15, 2005 | |

The Post Office was accused yesterday of undermining its own network of sub-post offices with demands for huge levies and restrictions on the services branches can offer. Convenience store owners, many of which have recently taken over local post office services, said the demands by the state enterprise that they pay large commissions from their other commercial activities to the Post Office were a restrictive practice that could drive many to close the sub-post offices in their shops. Demands by the Post Office for bigger payments from convenience store owners were also discouraging independent shops and chains of convenience store owners from taking over post office services, depriving many areas of the country of a branch. Store owners said the move could lead to more closures – beyond the 2,500 already shut down or earmarked for closure – should only a few incentives remain for them to step in and take over the local franchise.

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Small fanfare for UK Royal Mail’s drop in B2B price

Posted by | Jan 10, 2005 | |

There was a luke-warm reaction to news that Royal Mail is to reduce its prices for business mailers. The move is part of the postal service’s plan to stave off the growing competition for its huge share of the B2B market. From April this year the cost of a first-class stamp will rise from 28p to 30p. Business mailers will receive a 1p discount on the 30p price if their mail is franked or uses a PPI (Printed Postage Impression) and weighs less than 60g. Discounts range from 3p to 8p for heavier items. “There are some reductions and small increases, which are likely to behave as a balancing act,” said David Robottom, director of postal affairs and industry development at the DMA. “Royal Mail is making its prices relate more to its cost, which we support,” he added. “We welcome any reduction in price, as long as the service improves.”

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