Tag: UK

New Palletways Hub

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

Palletways has opened a new 50,000ft2 Scottish hub in Livinston, West Lothian. The Lord Provost, Tom Kerr, Palletways member companies and customers celebrated the opening at a specially organised launch.

The new hub in Livingston replaces a smaller site in Broxburn and provides customers with Scottish, UK-wide and pan-European express delivery services for small consignments of palletised freight. The size of the old site was restricting growth, and new premises were required to take the Palletways operation in Scotland to the next level. The new site is 50 pct larger with a total area of 50,000 sq ft.

Recently appointed Depot Manager, Jon Fullarton, comments: “The location is ideal as it lies to the south of both the M8 Motorway, the major route from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and the M9 that runs up to Stirling and beyond.

All goods bound within Scotland will be delivered via the new Livingston hub, whilst nationwide and pan-European orders will also be fulfilled via a hub facility in Lichfield, West Midlands.

A key feature of the new location is that the hub will be complemented by Palletways’ unique palletised consignment stockholding solution, giving quick and easy access to customers’ stored goods on site in Livingston to the Palletways national and international networks.

Customers who use Palletways in Scotland include Simpson Strong-Tie, a major timber-to-timber and timber-to-masonry connector company that supplies builders merchants and DIY outlets, Mizuno Golf, manufacturer of high quality golf clubs, bags, clothing and accessories and Wallace Cameron, who supply first aid products and services to a number of retailers such as Boots, Marks & Spencer and Halfords.

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TNT deal rescues MPS cash shortfall (UK)

Posted by | Jun 26, 2008 | |

TNT Post has eased the pressure on the funding shortfall faced by the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) by agreeing to support the organisation which funds the scheme.

Nick Wells, Chief Executive of TNT Post, confirmed that the private postal operator has written to its customers to ask their permission to add an extra charge to their invoices to contribute towards the fund.

The Advertising Board of Finance (Asbof) collects the levy which pays for self-regulatory schemes, such as the MPS, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Royal Mail currently collects 0.2 per cent of brand owners’ direct mail spend, which it passes on to Asbof to fund these schemes, but until now new entrants to the postal market have not collected any money, fuelling fears that the schemes could be doomed. This is despite the fact that nearly half of all downstream access mail volumes are now handled by private operators.

Asbof chairman Winston Fletcher says: “We’re absolutely delighted that TNT Post is supporting the self-regulation of direct marketing in this way. Self-regulation cannot work without funding and the fact that the largest independent mail operator, TNT Post, has come aboard is clear evidence of how important self-regulation is to the direct marketing industry.”

Fletcher hopes that many of the other independent postal operators will follow TNT Post’s lead.

The move comes at a time when the Government is piling pressure on the industry to expand the MPS. The DMA has been encouraging the industry to back self-regulation to avoid the implementation of opt-in legislation as threatened by the Government.

Earlier this year, Asbof board member Charles Ping warned the MPS would be “buggered” unless more client companies started paying the levy.

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Postcomm Annual Report 2007/08

Posted by | Jun 25, 2008 | |

Postcomm Annual Report 2007/08Postcomm’s latest annual report sets out details of our strategy:

– Universal service. Ensure the continued provision of an affordable universal postal service.
– Protecting customer interests. Where they have little effective choice, Postcomm will ensure customers benefit from an affordable universal service and adequate protection in terms of prices and service quality.
– Promoting sustainable competition. We aim to provide customers with choice through efficient and sustainable competition between postal operators.
– Advising on the post office network. We aim to ensure that government decisions on the future of the post office network are informed by Postcomm’s research, information and advice.
– Building effective stakeholder relations. Our stakeholders range from major mail customers and operators to Government departments, trade unions, Postwatch, Parliament and the devolved administrations. We aim to maintain and support strong relationships with all stakeholder groups through proactive communication and the sharing of information.
– Using and developing resources effectively. We want to be an effective, efficient organisation, with a highly committed and motivated staff that is continually improving and regarded as “best in class” in comparison with our peer group of other regulators.

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Jersey Post Welcomes Review by JCRA

Posted by | Jun 25, 2008 | |

Jersey Post has welcomed the proposed review of their postal services by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (‘JCRA’).

The JCRA is asking Islanders and businesses to comment on the performance of Jersey Post, and the company would like to encourage as many islanders as possible to take part.

Jersey Post handled 86 million items of mail in 2007 and delivers to over 42,000 homes and businesses in Jersey.

Jersey Post, Chief Executive, John Pinel explained: “We try and deliver the best possible service to our customers and in the last year we have exceeded a number of postal industry standard benchmarks, as well as offering some of the lowest postal rates in Europe. We were also shortlisted for the World Mail Awards which is a huge achievement.

Mr Pinel also said: “Jersey Post report to the JCRA every 6 months and over the last 6 years there has been an improvement in quality year on year. This year’s results are very encouraging and currently we are on target to meet the majority of our independently assessed Quality of Service goals including our local mail delivery service. We are highly dependent on our air links to and from the UK and delays due to weather or technical issues directly affect our Quality of Service results. We work hard with our partners to continually improve this service and provide solutions which help remove some of the challenges of Island life.”

Mr Pinel continued: “This review by the JCRA is a good way for us to get external feedback and input from our customers. We would also like to extend an invitation to any Islander who may wish to join one of our group visits to our premises at Rue de Pres to find out for themselves just how we operate a delivery and collection service 6 days a week, whatever the weather. Viewing the processes first hand is incredibly interesting and helps people really understand what we do,” Mr Pinel said.

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