Tag: UK

Amtrak Strengthens Management Team

Posted by | Mar 4, 2008 | |

Amtrak has appointed three new directors to its Operating Board as it gears up for the next phase of development. They will all report to Alan Jones, Amtrak’s Managing Director.

Phil Whitlock has been appointed IT Director, a new position created to reflect Amtrak’s continuing investment in state of the art technology, ensuring delivery of the best customer service. The latest developments include e-billing, credit card bookings and the phasing in of more than 1,000 new scanners for drivers and depots as part of its leading edge track and trace capability. The new on-line booking system, in partnership with NetDespatch, has just passed 10 million bookings.

Joe Dudley, who has recently returned to Amtrak after a spell at NetDespatch, has been appointed as Deputy IT Director.

The Sales and Commercial teams will be strengthened with the addition of Michael Hawkins as Commercial Director and Tony Hammond as Sales Director,. Michael has a significant track record in the parcels business, having worked for UPS for many years and more recently was with DHL Express. Tony has had a successful career in Royal Mail and TNT and was, until recently, Sales Director of DHL Mail.

As well as investing significantly in IT, Amtrak has restructured its depot network to make it more efficient, re-organised its trunking schedule, improved the efficiency of its C&D fleet, taken delivery of hundreds of new vehicles and greatly improved customer service.

Gerry Ruffell, who took on the role of Commercial Director when the business was acquired, will oversee the introduction of Tony and Michael into the business before moving on to other challenges.

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International Direct Marketing Fair

Posted by | Mar 4, 2008 | |

Postcomm is to hold a Post Theatre at this year International Direct Marketing Fair.

With one in five business customers exploring alternatives to mail, many have already moved their mail to other media and Postcomm intends to make the most of the event.

The International Direct Marketing Fair, held at Earls Court, is where strategy makers and decision takers responsible for marketing, direct marketing, data, digital, CRM and research come to find new and more innovative ways to generate a better response to their direct marketing campaigns.

Currently the UKs largest attended exhibition for the direct marketing industry, focus areas will include; helping the environment, electronic substitution, the innovation of hybrid mail and the way that Postcomm, the regulator for postal services, sees the future of the postal market, will be discussed at a series of seminars in London.

The three days of seminars make up a Post Theatre that Postcomm is hosting at this years International Direct Marketing Fair which opens from 29 April 1 May at Earls Court 2, London. Entrance is free.

The liberalisation of the UK postal market has brought about significant changes in the way business postal services are handled. But in parallel with liberalisation, other influences have developed, such as the rise in electronic communication and concerns about the environment.

While electronic communication has led to substitution, digital technology provides further opportunities for innovation in the mails market. Consumer spending on online shopping grew 50 pct last year and all mail operators are seeking innovative ways to fulfill these orders. Hybrid mail is now available: this is an electronic-to-physical service which allows businesses and individuals to send letters electronically from personal computers directly to a print facility near its destination where it is printed, enveloped and delivered locally.

As well as reducing staff time and the need for paper, envelopes and franking machines for the sender, hybrid mail has a reduced carbon footprint compared with traditional delivery networks because it cuts out the need to carry mail over a long distance. Many of the major companies offering hybrid systems will have speakers at the seminar.

Companies entering the liberalised postal market initially targeted large customers, but now we are seeing more special services being offered to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Royal Mail will be explaining its special services aimed at SMEs.

Other topics include choosing the right mail provider, the future of direct marketing, and the views of customers.

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New strike threat is looming for Royal Mail

Posted by | Mar 3, 2008 | |

Royal Mail faces a fresh wave of industrial action, only months after the end of one of the biggest strikes to hit the postal service in years.

The Times has learnt that unions have rejected the postal group’s plan to overhaul its pensions scheme and are poised to ballot nearly 150,000 members over whether they back the plan or not. Last year, postal services were crippled by several days of national strikes in a long-running dispute over pay and working practices.

Royal Mail said a year ago that it intended to close its final-salary scheme to new employees and to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65. It then proposed ending the final-salary scheme for all employees and creating a career average plan, which would be linked to the retail prices index.

When last year’s dispute over pay was settled, Royal Mail agreed to continue talks with the unions over pensions, but they have failed to make progress after nearly four months.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents postal workers, and Unite, which represents postal managers, will start to ballot their members shortly. If, as officials believe, the pension plans are rejected in the ballots, a subsequent strike vote would be virtually certain. The unions are recommending rejection of Royal Mail’s plans.

The threat of fresh strike action comes as Royal Mail is under increasing attack over the shutting of 2,500 post offices. The closures, which are being rolled out regionally, have hit London, sparking growing complaints that profitable, popular offices are being shut. There are also complaints over the consultation period, which lasts only six weeks.

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Report calls for new commercial model for Royal Mail

Posted by | Mar 3, 2008 | |

An independent report has dismissed the often-cited option of ‘structural separation’ for the Royal Mail as the best way to rejuvenate the UK postal market because of the ‘potentially significant and damaging costs’. Instead it recommends a radical new commercial model with two accountable businesses operating independently with distinct targets, objectives and incentives resulting in improved customer choice, service and value for money.

The report was undertaken by David Stubbs of Europe Economics to contribute to the ongoing industry consultations and to review different business models for Royal Mail. In particular the report considers the impact of different options for Royal Mail on the promotion of commercial and customer focus in the mail sector. It was commissioned by UK Mail, one of the leading players in this market.

The new model would introduce a new business unit, Royal Mail Sales which would interface with customers, and would contain all existing retail sales, marketing and product development aspects of Royal Mail. It would operate alongside Royal Mail Network which will be responsible for the operational delivery of postal services and would sell services to Access Customers, Downstream Access providers and Royal Mail Sales on an equal and transparent basis.

The report goes on to state that this model would create “commercial equivalence” for Royal Mail in dealing with all customers which is vital to create a model for a healthy, vibrant and sustainable mail market.

The report also recommends the inclusion of new arrangements whereby competing operators were able to gain access by arrangement with Post Office Ltd to Royal Mail’s network of post offices in offering mail and parcel services to posting and receiving customers.

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Itella first in Finland to test automated parcel terminal

Posted by | Mar 3, 2008 | |

Itella is the first in Finland to test an automated parcel terminal, which offers a new way for consumers to pick up their parcels. The three-month pilot project will be launched in cooperation with Hobby Hall on 3 March in Itäkeskus, Helsinki.

The automated parcel terminal increases the number of ways in which consumers can receive parcels. In the future, consumers can choose to pick up a parcel from the post office, from an automated parcel terminal or even have it delivered to their home.

Typically, an automatic parcel terminal has 50-100 parcel lockers, the size of which can be altered. The customers receive an SMS informing them of a parcel that has arrived and with which the locker in the automated parcel terminal can be opened. The safety and usability of the terminal’s interface corresponds to that of an automatic teller machine.

The pilot project is realised together with Hobby Hall, the distance selling market leader in Finland, and its customers. Those selected to participate in the pilot study will receive an SMS message, which they can use to pick up a free parcel from Hobby Hall at the Itäkeskus terminal.

As part of the pilot project, Itella will perform an extensive survey of the service needs of consumers and distance selling companies and create a terminal service concept that meets the actual Finnish market demands. “After the pilot project is over, we will introduce an automated parcel terminal operations model suitable for the Finnish markets and announce our future plans,” says Aku Happo.

The English company Business Direct is in charge of the technical realisation of the automated parcel terminal.

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