From Postcomm press release
Examples of well-known businesses that have moved mailings to the new licensed operators include: Vodafone, Powergen, Royal Bank of Scotland and the Inland Revenue who use UK Mail. Waitrose, Barclay’s, Alliance & Leicester, BSkyB and Lloyd’s TSB who use TNT Mail and Tesco, which uses DHL Global Mail
Revenue & Customs has become the first key government body to drop Royal Mail for part of its work as the postal service prepares to open up to full competition. The Revenue has chosen UK Mail, part of Business Post, for the post associated with taxpayers setting up online accounts. In order to file tax returns online taxpayers have to receive security information from the Revenue in the post. The decision to stop using Royal Mail was approved by the Cabinet Office, which oversees government administrative spending. A large number of government departments, including the biggest mailer, the Department for Work and Pensions, is believed to be considering switching to rival postal groups.
Read MoreRoyal Mail’s rivals have been asked by Postcomm to consent to its final proposed modifications to their existing licences ahead of the introduction of full postal competition in January.
Postcomm has come up with a new standard licence for alternative operators to Royal Mail after industry-wide consultation.
The licence would replace those it has already issued to 10 operators and take effect from January 1 2006, but all those operators need to agree to the changes.
Postcomm said it would talk to the operators informally to get their consent, but if not all of them give it, it would mean referring the proposed changes to the Competition Commission for it to rule on them. This could potentially delay full market opening.
Read MoreAt the AGM today of Business Post, the UK’s leading independent express delivery company, the Chairman, Peter Kane, will state: “In the first quarter of the financial year, to 30 June 2005, revenues in Parcel Services were 9% ahead of last year, benefiting from continued strong growth in HomeServe and the higher rates of growth in the International market for cross-border shipments. Revenues in Express were ahead of last year but affected by market conditions which continue to be challenging. Accordingly, a number of initiatives have been undertaken to reduce costs. Within Specialist Distribution Services, revenue growth was 15% and profit margins continued to improve within UK Pallets. UK Mail made further progress, trading ahead of expectations, increasing its market share to around 1.25%, and successfully launching its service for unsorted mail.
Read MoreA post company is using Swindon in the vanguard of its attack on Royal Mail.
UK Mail has opened its first letter sorting machine at the Hillmead Enterprise Park in Swindon. And it has hinted that it might use the town as an experiment for setting up postboxes in large shops or shopping centres for the general public. The centre will allow UK Mail to sort up to 20,000 items of post a day and will be the first of several others are planned for Leicester, Leeds, London and Glasgow.
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