Tag: UK

New body created after Energywatch and Postwatch merge (UK)

Posted by | Oct 1, 2008 | |

The formation of the new Consumer Focus organisation happens on 1st October – but some MPs remain to be convinced over its effectiveness.

Energywatch joined forces with two other campaigning groups to form a new, merged, watchdog today.

The gas and electricity consumers’ group, the National Consumer Council and Postwatch (which supervised the postal service) have now formed the new Consumer Focus organisation. It will function primarily as a voice for British people, lobbying the government for fairer treatment.

Around GBP 15 million a year in public money will go towards funding the organisation and the creation of a new ombudsman scheme – which is set to rule on customer complaints regarding both the energy and the postal sectors.

Business secretary John Hutton said: “These changes will help consumers get a better deal. One single body, rather than three, means a stronger voice holding business and government to account. It means a more joined up approach to tackling problems.”

He added: “Energy companies will have to take greater responsibility for handling complaints or face significant fines. And where complaints can’t be resolved voluntarily, new redress schemes give the system teeth.”

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CPL – B2C will drive European express growth

Posted by | Oct 1, 2008 | |

B2C deliveries will be the major growth market for the European express and parcels industry in the next few years along with international deferred shipments as customers downtrade from premium express to slower but cheaper products, the Courier and Parcel Logistics conference in London was told.

Home deliveries will grow strongly as consumers increasingly shop on the internet instead of in the high street, but issues surrounding “final mile“ deliveries will continue to pose operational challenges, senior industry managers said on the event’s opening day.

Speakers agreed that the B2C market would move towards segmentation between premium deliveries of higher-value goods and standard delivery of lower-value items. However, there was little customer take-up of parcel collection and drop-off points so far, they commented.

Addressing market trends, speakers said that the world economic slowdown and recent financial markets turbulence would impact on business. The express industry would see fewer shipments and more bundling of volumes from financial customers, while customer relationships were being shaken up by the rapid changes in the financial sector. More generally, operators needed to right-size their networks, remove excess capacity but not endanger their customer service levels.

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Nightfreight grows volume in home-delivery service

Posted by | Oct 1, 2008 | |

Nightfreight’s two-man home-delivery network has seen volumes grow by 20 pct over the past three months and 10 pct year-on-year, while a new customer win will boost volumes by a further 10 pct to 20 pct. In the summer, the firm added two new offerings to its two-man business – a pay-as-you-go service and a premium-to-home service – both of which have increased the firm’s business, says MD Peter Louden.

Under the premium-to-home service, Nightfreight offers a 48-hour delivery on mixed goods. “If there’s a time-critical delivery, then this service is ideal,” adds Louden. He adds that the focus for the next six months is to continue to grow volumes significantly in the two-man area. “Our strategy is to open up more two-man depots where we can – the closer we can get to our customers the better,” says Louden.

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Postal operators must focus on innovation

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

“Innovation is an essential element in planning and preparing for the future. Being innovative is the only way the postal sector can remain competitive,” said Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union.

Over the past few years, Dayan said, postal operators worldwide have shown an ability to innovate, especially in creating services that facilitate e-commerce, an industry fuelling the growth of parcels and small packets.

He cited the development of e-services and payment services as two areas in which postal operators have made great strides in order to meet customers’ need for new ways of sending messages and making financial transactions as they increasingly use the Internet to conduct daily activities.

According to UPU statistics, more than 80 pct of postal operators in industrialized countries and 40 pct in developing countries offer innovative messaging services such as secure e-mail, hybrid mail and electronic changes of address.

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Vendors announced for Royal Mail mobile project

Posted by | Sep 30, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has announced the suppliers for its national mobile service project which will see 25,000 postal delivery workers equipped with handheld devices.
As reported by Computing in July, the introduction of the devices is part of a GBP 1.2bn IT-driven business transformation at Royal Mail designed to improve customer service by verifying the status of tracked letters or parcels.
The handheld devices are being supplied by Intermec, while CSC will develop and maintain the systems supporting the service. The CSC team also includes Blackbay, a provider of mobile workforce systems.
Royal Mail van drivers will be able to capture signatures at the point of delivery, eliminating the current paper-based processes.
Some 70,000 staff who delivers items by foot or bicycle will continue using a paper-based system to record signatures and delivery times, but the devices will roll out to all postal delivery workers in the future.
Trials for the handheld computers began late last year.

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