Postcomm has set out five criteria that it proposes to use to measure the effectiveness of competition in mail services. As the criteria are met, Postcomm will look at whether it can reduce its regulation of the market in those areas.
The criteria are Barriers to entry, The scale and nature of competition, Behaviour of Royal Mail, Customer awareness and behaviour and Effectiveness of competition.
Read MoreA touch of Kiwi hi-tech is tracking hundreds of thousands of brown paper parcels and express service jiffy bags as they are delivered to homes and businesses across Britain each day.
In a deal worth several million dollars, former Christchurch and now London-based iTouch Business Mobility has provided 2500 Parcelforce Worldwide drivers with hand-held computers that tell them where to go and what to do with their deliveries.
Read MoreUK Royal Mail warned yesterday that its fragile financial recovery would be “materially affected” by the recent unofficial strike action, because of lost business, brand damage and the risk of fines from the regulator.
The mail group made a small pre-tax profit of £3m for the first sixth months of the year, the first time it has been in the black in the first half for five years. Royal Mail made a loss of Pounds 542m in the same period last year. The move into profit was triggered by a 1p rise in the price of stamps in May, which generated £90m.
Read MoreLittlefoot, the automated data collection specialist, has helped to develop a sophisticated proof of delivery system for Amtrak Express Parcels. The new solution is based on two-dimensional barcodes, and uses Dolphin 7300 mobile computers, supplied by HHP and equipped with specialist software developed by Littlefoot.
Amtrak`s new system forms part of a major investment programme in IT, designed to consolidate and extend the company`s success within the UK.
Read MoreRoyal Mail made a £3 million profit before tax in the first half of this financial year – the first time in five years it has been in the black at the half year.
The underlying performance showed a £55 million profit on the company’s day-to-day operations, compared to a £147 million loss in the same period a year ago, although the trading profit amounted to a return of just 1.3% on the external turnover in the half year of £4,120 million. Royal Mail’s return to profitability comes at exactly the mid-point of the three-year renewal plan. In the first half of last year it made a £542 million pre-tax loss but commenting on the latest figures, the Chairman, Allan Leighton, said
“This is welcome news but Royal Mail has not yet achieved a turnaround. We’ve got our heads above water again but there is still a long way to go before we achieve sustainable profitability.
“Crucially, Royal Mail has still not implemented key operational changes in most of the letters business.”
A 1p rise in basic First and Second Class postage in May has been the prime driver pushing the profit on operations in the letters business to £161 million in the first half of the year.
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