Tag: UK

Regulator considers five-day post service

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

Royal Mail could be allowed to cut deliveries from six to five days a week following a review by the postal regulator into the need for a six-day service in a competitive mail market.

The state-owned postal operator was allowed to end second daily deliveries three years ago to help restore profitability.

Now Postcomm, as part of a sweeping review of the future of regulation, is considering reducing compulsory deliveries to every home and workplace to five days a week. The regulator is also sympathetic to a request from Royal Mail to limit this universal service obligation to stamped letters and packages.

Sarah Chambers, Postcomm chief executive, told a conference in London on Monday that the current rules provided more of a “Rolls-Royce” universal service than elsewhere in Europe, where five days a week was standard.

The requirement to deliver post to the front door was another Rolls-Royce aspect of the universal service obligation, she added. In other European countries, post was often put in mailboxes at the entrance to a property or block of flats.

At the annual postal service conference organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Ms Chambers said that insisting on a Saturday delivery could lead to higher prices for other services.

Business users warned Friday and Saturday deliveries were important for direct marketing.

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Direct mail industry braced for postal chaos

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

The direct mail industry is expected to be hit by months of postal chaos following the Communications Workers Union’s decision to stage the first national strike in more than a decade.

Many of the UK’s top brands, including those operating in home shopping, financial services and charities, as well as heavyweight campaigns by TV rivals BSkyB and Virgin Media, are reliant on Royal Mail, not only for direct mail but also for transactional post.

The first day of action is planned for this Friday, and is expected to be followed by a strike next week and another on July 9.

Royal Mail has taken out press ads in several national newspapers to explain its position. The ad says: “A strike is the last thing we want. But the issue at the heart of this dispute is change. We believe that Royal Mail has no alternative but to change and modernise, which all our major rivals did years ago.”

The dispute centres around a 2.5% pay offer and plans by Royal Mail to modernise its network by bringing in more automated sorting equipment. This will result in the workforce being cut by 40,000. Workers voted 70% in favour of a strike.

It will also hit private operators – which have secured huge swathes of Royal Mail business since privatisation – as they rely on postal workers to deliver their mail for the so-called “final mile”. Both parties are due to restart talks.

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The Future of UK Postal Services

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

Now in its sixth year, this conference is firmly established as one of the leading events in the postal calendar. And with Royal Mail’s modernisation programme, the new operators’ increasing market share, the expansion of end-to-end, and Postcomm’s Strategy Review on the agenda, this conference comes at a crucial stage in the development of the market. This event will bring together the leading players in the industry to debate these issues and determine the future of the UK postal services industry

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DHL launches New York overnight express to Europe

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

DHL, introduced the service for urgent next day documents from New York City to major European destinations.

Available for customers with shipments originating from lower Manhattan, DHL’s next day delivery trip begins with the pickup of urgent material by courier for transfer to the DHL helicopter pad in New York City. Shipments are then flown by helicopter directly to John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport, avoiding New York City traffic. From there, they move on flights bound for nine cities in Europe.

Available Monday thru Thursday, the new offering gives customers the ability to get their shipments delivered next business day from New York City to Amsterdam, Holland; Brussels, Belgium; Dublin, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany; Geneva, Switzerland; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Paris, France; and Zurich, Switzerland. Next day by 12:00 noon delivery is available to some of the main financial centers in Europe.

For more than two decades, DHL has been leveraging its Manhattan helicopter to serve the financial district, and is the only express shipper to provide continual same day and overnight delivery of cash letters from Europe and Asia to the US banking system — a service vital to the world’s leading financial institutions. By cutting as much as a day off the time in transit for these shipments, financial institutions and their customers can save millions of dollars each year in otherwise lost interest and delayed business transactions.

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TNT Express creates 100 jobs at new Liverpool Airport depot

Posted by | Jun 25, 2007 | |

TNT is to create 100 jobs at a new £5.6m express delivery depot being set up at Liverpool John Lennon Airport over the next few months.

The new depot, which was officially opened on June 22, will handle domestic parcels for the North-West of England as well as international consignments to and from mainland Europe and further afield.

Peter Lascelles, Depot General Manager, assumes responsibility for the new Liverpool location as well as TNT’s Manchester International Depot at Trafford Park.

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