Tag: UK

Royal Mail launches dedicated production helpline (UK)

Posted by | Jun 27, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is continuing to demonstrate its commitment to the direct marketing industry by launching a dedicated production helpline for production managers.

The initiative, manned by experienced production specialists, will offer over the phone support to agencies requiring immediate answers to production issues, including:

• Quick problem solving – effective solutions for postage weight issues, difficult formats and how to save money on P&P

• Instant technical advice – over the phone answers on pricing of items, Freepost artwork approval, PPI etc

• Extra mailing services – help with campaign management, Sameday service and approval for mail campaigns

Tim Hamill of Royal Mail said: “We are launching this new helpline in response to the feedback we have received from direct marketing agencies over the last few months. Print production is a tough job requiring answers to niggling questions on an ongoing basis. Through the helpline we want to relieve some of this pressure and really add value to our client relationships.”

Read More

Postcomm: Royal Mail must reduce costs further (UK)

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

Nigel Stapleton, Chairman of Postcomm the UK postal industry regulator, said that Royal Mail must make greater efforts to become more competitive and not look to Postcomm for a relaxation of price regulation.

In the 2007/2008 annual report, Mr Stapleton said that most people firmly believe that mail can hold its own, despite the rise in email and internet use, but that all mail operators need to raise their game in terms of price competitiveness, service quality and product innovation.

He said that the GBP 100 million loss on the universal service was of great concern as well as the break-even position overall from its addressed letters business. He said Postcomm had relaxed a key feature of the current price control, thereby allowing bigger increases to the prices of certain products where currently prices are below their fully allocated costs. Postcomm was also minded to suspend during 2007/08, the compensation that would otherwise be due from Royal Mail to its customers when quality of service drops below the licence standards. However, he said that Royal Mail needed to be more innovative and reduce costs further to retain customers:

He drew attention to sporadic industrial action in 2007, saying that two thirds of the total working days lost in the UK through strikes were attributable to the series of stoppages at Royal Mail while the company sought to gain support from its workforce for the initiatives required to become more cost competitive.

On an optimistic note, he pointed out that more mail users are now being offered a choice of using either Royal Mail or one of the new entrants to the market.

Read More

Jersey Post faces formal competition

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

Jersey Post is facing formal competition for the first time after the postal regulator issued a licence to an express delivery service.

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority has granted a licence to Regency Holdings Ltd, which delivers business mail and catalogues from the UK to Jersey.

The company has been delivering to Jersey since last year, and the 10-year licence formalises its operations in the Island.

Chuck Webb, executive director of the JCRA, said: ‘Regency Holdings is a fairly small operation that delivers business mail as well as catalogues and associated letters to Jersey from the UK.

Read More

Commission announces crackdown on mail monopolies

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

Speaking at a high-level conference on postal liberalisation on Tuesday (24 June), the EU’s commissioners for competition and the internal market warned countries with lingering postal monopolies to open up or face legal action.

“We will not hesitate to use all means at our disposal to make a competitive and sustainable postal market a reality,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, warning governments not to introduce what he called “creative market barriers” under the pretext of safeguarding basic mail services for all.

Such measures will undoubtedly include infringement procedures against member states that are “backtracking” on their pledges to liberalise the postal market fully, said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes. “You know me, I will enforce competition rules in the postal sector […] Regulation is not enough,” she said, highlighting the fact that she had already sent a formal notice to Slovakia on 18 June regarding its plans to “re-monopolise certain sectors of its postal market”.

The strong statements come a surprisingly short time – just four months – after the EU pushed through legislation, which only commits member states to full liberalisation of their mail markets by 2011 at the earliest.

They appear as a testimony of Brussels’ commitment to full market opening amid growing apprehension at the national level as to the concrete effects of full liberalisation on employment and the provision of a quality service for all.

Although no names were cited, Germany appears to take the brunt of the Commission’s discontent, with its plans to introduce a minimum hourly wage of EUR for postmen operating on its territory in order to prevent social dumping.

The move has sparked a big dispute with the Netherlands, where Dutch Junior Economy Minister Frank Heemskerk retaliated by delaying his country’s own planned 1 January 2008 liberalisation until a “more level playing field” was established – a move also under fire from the Commission.

Both Germany and the Netherlands have received letters from the commissioner in which he voices such concerns. So have Finland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium and Poland – making them all potential targets for legal action. The complaints cover a wide range of practices – from Finland’s charges on new entrants that do not agree to provide nationwide services or Belgian plans to simply force all new operators to deliver across its whole territory to Austria allowing its national operator to install key access to private letter boxes in apartment hallways.

Read More

European Parcels Market: Price Pressure Eclipses Growth through Internet Trade

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

After several years of strong sales growth for courier, express and parcel (CEP) services, in the coming years the figures in Europe are expected to slip back. Average annual growth in revenues in international CEP markets, for example, will decline from 8.6 percent today to 6.6 percent in 2010. The almost constant growth in transport volume resulting from steadily rising internet trade is being eclipsed by considerable price pressure. This is one of the conclusions from the latest study conducted by A.T. Kearney. Transport costs are being driven ever higher by the rising price of oil, and this could lead to a significant shift in the choice of means of transport in future. Although costs are rising, for highly time-critical goods such as express parcels there will be no alternative to air transport even in years to come. CEP providers need to tighten up their own market positioning and service provision profile and compensate for price pressure and increases in factor costs through strict cost management. The key challenges are the pressure to differentiate, the expansion of international networks, zonal pricing, closed supply chains and continuing consolidation.

Impacts of the high oil price on the global transport industry

For highly time-critical goods such as express parcels or spare parts, but also for high-value moisture-sensitive goods, there will still be no alternative to air transport in the future. Nevertheless, in the short and medium term opportunities to benefit from this within Europe will be available to service providers who build on a good road network, as in this case fuel costs are a considerably less weighty factor than in air transport.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What's the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest