Express Dairies has applied for a licence to deliver letters and parcels with the morning milk.
If Postcomm, the regulator, grants the application, the company will be given a 12-month licence to carry up to 4.6m items a year.
Royal Mail’s plans to introduce a new pricing system based on size – not just weight – have been attacked by both agencies and clients and will, according to one agency chief, “stifle creativity and damage the direct mail medium”.
The proposal, first revealed in Precision Marketing last month (PM April 5), has been put forward by managing director of business and consumer markets Gillian Wilmot. It is not known whether the Media Markets division supports the initiative.
Royal Mail is aiming to develop closer relationships with the UK mailing house sector by launching a new scheme encouraging them to promote the medium to advertisers.
The Mailing Agents Programme is part of continued efforts by Royal Mail’s Media Markets division to stabilise the relationship it has with mailing houses and establish its commitment to backing the mail medium in the face of increasing competition.
Around 300 mailing houses have been invited to join the free scheme, by offering a commission rate for new business won from referrals and for successful new marketing ideas.
Consignia has confirmed that it may rename itself Royal Mail PLC. This could mean the end of the Consignia name after just 16 months. Consignia said its name change was justified on the grounds that it suited its goal of becoming an international postal operator.
The decision followed a £500,000 consultation with Dragon Brands.
A Consignia spokesman has told Ananova: “It’s a matter of public knowledge that the chairman Allan Leighton doesn’t like the name Consignia, and it’s the intention to change the name of the organisation.
Senior executives at the UK’s postal service have decided to replace the much-maligned Consignia brand with the name Royal Mail Group.
The company is keen to finally cut its ties with one of the most unpopular brands in UK corporate history.
Top Consignia managers, led by chairman Allan Leighton, are meeting today (Wednesday) to finalise the decision, which comes much sooner than expected.
Although Leighton had already made plain his intention to ditch the Consignia name, there was speculation that the government-owned plc would simply revert to being called the Post Office.
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