Tag: UK

Post Office marks 145th anniversary of savings

Posted by | Aug 28, 2007 | |

As the Post Office marks its 145th year as a home for the nation’s savings; research into today’s savings behavior compared to yesteryear reveals that we’re saving less than our counterparts did last century.

Overall, one in four (24 per cent) people today don’t save at all and a third (32 per cent) save infrequently. In contrast, 70 per cent of adults play the National Lottery on a regular basis, meaning we’re more likely to play the lottery than save regularly.

The majority of savers (56 per cent) say they are not saving for any particular goal, just “the future”. The single biggest reason for saving is for a holiday (29 per cent).

A third (35 per cent) of 18-24 yr olds are saving for a deposit on a home, while almost half (48 per cent) of those aged 55 – 64 are frantically topping up their retirement savings.

Lack of spare money is the main reason for not saving today (71 per cent). For 27 per cent of people there are just too many debts to pay off, while 17 per cent say they just spend all their money before they can save it.

The Post Office has produced a historic savings time line to chart the UK’s savings habits.

It reveals the savings ratio – the proportion of post-tax income that households save rather than spend – has varied significantly over the years. The highest peak at 12.4 per cent was in 1980 (along with high inflation). One of the lowest periods occurred between 1946 and 1955 during the post war slump when the savings ratio only entered positive territory once (0.3 pct) during Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

With the savings ratio now at 2.1pct – its lowest point since 1959 – the Post Office is using this anniversary as a timely reminder for people to remember the importance of saving.

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GLS France launches Global Business-Parcel

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

Since the beginning of July GLS France offers the Global Business-Parcel. This new product allows shipment to 50 additional destinations, thus rising to 85 the number of countries delivered around the world. Delivery times vary from 4 to 10 days, according to the country.

This product allows GLS France customers to export their parcels to the main countries around the world, receiving national, European and global services from one hand. Among the new countries served are the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, India, Taiwan, China, Japan, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Maghreb countries and French overseas departments and territories (DOM-TOM).

To accompany its customers in the specific management of their international shipments and accelerate deliveries, the clearance through customs is included in its offer.

With the Global Business-Parcel, the harmonized operational processes and the interconnected IT systems allow a high level of security to customers in their shipment throughout the world. The shipment tracking, according to GLS standards, offers regular information on parcel position.

Parcels are collected according to usual conditions: collection times are defined within a common agreement, in order to respect the activity and process of each customer.

This service has no minimum shipment volume. The only requirement is to open a Global Business-Parcel dedicated account with GLS approving the specific sales conditions. As a complement of the product and service range, this product will be proposed as a complementary offer to existing deliveries in France and/or in Europe.

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Rival postal operators eat into Royal Mail profit

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

When Royal Mail blamed its first operating loss in six years on increased competition, eyebrows were raised across the industry.

But new figures from Postcomm reveal that the 15 alternative licensed postal operators are clawing their way deeper into Royal Mail territory.

End-to-end delivery is still largely unfeasible for most of the newer service providers, with only 1 per cent of mail currently not handled by Royal Mail. However, according to Postcomm’s latest figures, access volumes have gone from 2.4 billion items at the end of the last financial year, to 4 billion between April and August. This now accounts for one in five items of business mail.

And with GBP 700m a year being earmarked for Royal Mail’s troubled pension scheme, and the fact that bulk business volumes are down 12 per cent, Royal Mail’s predicament starts to look pretty sticky.

But not all Royal Mail customers are willing to lend a sympathetic ear. Stephen Bentley, chief executive of response management and fulfilment house Granby Marketing Services, believes that Royal Mail’s troubles are due to a failure to keep costs under control. He is nervous the only way for Royal Mail to recover financially will be to increase prices.

“We’ve lost GBP 44 m this year on access mail that we’re handling on behalf of competitors,” says Budd. “The reality is that we are subsidising their businesses.”

But other parts of the business are looking up. In the first half of last year the regulatory report figures show that Royal Mail made a profit on first class mail, including franked mail.

Andy Fruin, external relations director at Postwatch, does not believe Royal Mail’s future is terminal. He concludes/ “Royal Mail has gone through a dramatic recovery before, and it will become a healthy company again.”

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Hermes mulls legal steps if German government extends VAT exemption for Deutsche Post

Posted by | Aug 27, 2007 | |

Hermes, a Hamburg-based logistics groups, is considering legal steps if the German Finance Ministry extends the VAT exemption for Deutsche Post World Net AG beyond 2007, its Managing Director Hanjo Schneider told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The tax exemption violates EU law, he said.

Deutsche Post enjoys an exemption from Germany’s 19 pct value-added tax in its letter and parcel services in return for its promise to deliver mail to every German household.

Without this advantage, Deutsche Post would have to raise its parcel prices ‘substantially’, Schneider said.

Hermes, which owns 29 pct in TNT NV’s TNT Post, moved some 50 mln parcels last year.

Schneider also criticized government plans to introduce minimum wages for postal workers.

If Deutsche Post’s wage agreement becomes a benchmark for the industry, the road into the letter market for new providers remains blocked, he said.

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Firms counting cost of UK postal walk-outs

Posted by | Aug 26, 2007 | |

Businesses are still counting the cost of postal strikes and say the action has the potential to lose them thousands of pounds. Royal Mail workers walked out in two 24-hour strikes followed by a campaign of staggered action, in which each division was allocated a different day to revolt in a bid to cause continuous disruption.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) were protesting at job losses which they say will come from modernization of the firm and have rejected a 2.5 per cent pay offer.

Royal Mail, which has been losing business to rivals since the postal market was opened to competition, says the changes are needed for it to stay competitive and vowed to keep delivering mail during the action.

Smaller businesses have felt the biggest impact from the strikes as orders and deliveries have been delayed.

Burslem-based Lorna Bailey Artware depends on Royal Mail to bring in responses to its mailshots.

“Potentially, it could cost us thousands of pounds. When mail shots go out they can turn over GBP 20,000. If it is late, it puts back the manufacturing and painting – all very problematic.

“It puts us in an awkward situation because we can use Parcelforce for larger parcels, but we don’t want to pass extra charges on to the customers.

Toy and book supplier Everything Dinosaur, based in Middlewich, relies heavily on the post for its mail order service.

Owner Mike Walley said the biggest concern was not knowing which division was on strike each day.

Mr Walley has introduced a new service using couriers in an attempt to overcome disruptions but said this is costing the company money.

He added: “We’re using couriers for some of the larger parcels, but it’s costing us money because we have offered it at a discounted rate.

The national strikes have now been called off and Royal Mail and the CWU are expected to reach an agreement by September 4. Royal Mail has pledged to get services back to normal as quickly as possible.

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