Tag: USA

Postal chief sees freight returning to rail and sea (Australia)

Posted by | Jul 7, 2008 | |

The international freight industry will face increasing pressure to cut back on flights and revert to sea and rail deliveries because of environmental concerns, the head of Australia Post predicts.
Australia Post’s managing director, Graeme John, who will be chairman of an annual meeting this week in Queensland of nine of the world’s biggest postal groups, said the problem of global warming would have an increasing influence on the way the global postal industry is run.
Mr John said growth in international freight from consumer goods such as electronics had been managed on a “just in time” basis, with air travel preferred to other forms of transport because of its speed advantage. But that approach was no longer viable.
The postal groups meeting this week – Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Spain, France and Britain – are members of the Kahala Post Group, a consortium created five years ago to help them compete with private freight companies.
Mr John instigated the consortium because he “wanted to do something about the dominance of the DHLs and the FedExs and UPSs in the international parcel network”, as did other former monopoly postal groups.
The Kahala group – named after a resort the members stayed at during their founding meeting in Hawaii – conceded they could not compete with the private companies on speed, so instead focused on reliability of delivery.
But to guarantee that reliability the Kahala members had to upgrade their tracking systems.
It also required the creation of a “delivery calculator” – a database of eight billion postcodes that allows a customer to walk into any postal outlet, list their destination and be told a precise window during which a parcel would be delivered.
While the private couriers already offered that certainty, and faster delivery, the Kahala members undercut their prices by 40 per cent to 50 per cent.
As well as pressure to shift towards less environmentally-damaging modes of transport, Mr John said a worsening economic environment could prompt a trend to slower “deferred” delivery services.
The Kahala partnership is also moving beyond postage, with Australia Post, China Post and the US Postal Service preparing to launch a group-owned money transfer service to compete against Western Union.

Read More

U.S. Postal Service selects NCR for hardware technology refresh

Posted by | Jul 7, 2008 | |

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has selected NCR Corporation as the exclusive provider of retail point-of-service (POS) hardware for thousands of postal counters across the United States.

Under the three-year, multimillion-dollar contract, the USPS will install NCR RealPOS 80XRT workstations at larger, high-traffic post office locations currently running the NCR POS ONE postal software solution. This comprehensive solution from NCR, designed to deliver improved operational efficiencies and streamlined customer service, is expected to be installed beginning in the second half of 2008. NCR will also provide services, including help desk, project management and maintenance.

The NCR RealPOS 80XRT is NCR’s most advanced workstation. Employing next-generation architecture, this device delivers industry-leading power, scalability and systems management capabilities to the point of service. Coupled with the NCR POS ONE software, NCR’s solution allows the USPS to focus on accommodating customers with faster service and better information during visits to local post offices.

Read More

Electronic bill payments show marginal growth (U.S)

Posted by | Jul 7, 2008 | |

The share of bills consumers pay the old-fashioned way via the regular mail continues to decline, according to the U.S. Postal Service’s most recent annual study about what goes through the mails. But despite the gains of electronic bill payments, the availability of free bill-pay service at most banks may be slowing what had been a rapid run-up in the volume of electronically processed bill payments as banks dropped their fees. As a result, billers likely will continue to send many paper bills and consumers will pay them by mail for the foreseeable future.
Results from the Postal Service’s recently released Household Diary Study for fiscal year 2007 show the percentage of bills paid by electronic methods primarily automatic deductions from checking accounts, and the Internet increased from 19 pct in 2003 to 32 pct in 2007. In contrast, bills paid by mail decreased from 74 pct to 62 pct of total payments during the same time.
Looked at another way, paper bill payments now account for less than a quarter of what the Postal Service calls “transactions mail” a category that includes bills, statements, confirmations, orders, and rebates. “Electronic diversion continues to erode the volume of mail payments in favor of online payments, automatic deductions from bank accounts, and other electronic methods of bill payment,” says the survey report. “As a result, the share of bills paid by mail dropped from 25.3 pct of total mail transactions in 2005 to 23.6 pct in 2007.”

Read More

USPS' revised network plan released

Posted by | Jul 4, 2008 | |

The US Postal Service has just submitted to congress a revised network plan. These plans are not final and are subject to negotiations. UNI Post & Logistics affiliate, NPMHU (National Postal Mail Handlers Union) has been looking into the plan and is concerned with the issue of plant consolidation, as well as the potential subcontracting of work now being performed at the Bulk Mail Centers. The NPHMU will vigorously oppose this and pursue all its negotiated rights to protect mail handlers’ jobs.

Read More

TNT on course for growth

Posted by | Jul 4, 2008 | |

TNT says it is well-placed to ride out the effects of any global economic downturn thanks to minimal exposure to the US domestic market.

Last week, rival FedEx reported a fourth-quarter net loss of USD 241m (GBP 121m) and full-year net income of USD 1.13bn (GBP 568.3m), down some 44 pct on the previous year, mainly caused by the weak US economy.

And fellow US-based operator UPShas already warned of falling domestic demand.

However, Marie-Christine Lombard, group MD for TNT’s Express division, says: “We are not affected by the US slowdown – we have no exposure in the US, in some ways to our great regret and in others not.”

In a reference to DHL, which has recently announced large-scale cutbacks in its US operation, she adds: “[DHL] has paid for it – and now you see what the result is. When you have very strong operators in very mature markets it is very hard to enter the market late.”

Despite the sell-off of its logistics arm in 2006, TNT is still targeting growth in the plus-30kg consignment sector, such as pallets and other oversized express freight, says Lombard.

“What we have found is that clients trading on express flows have other flows that they would like to use TNT for. We want to capture those and arrange solutions for our clients.”

Marketing and Sales Director Jan-Willem Breen says that a broad product offering, particularly what it describes as “Economy Express”, is also helping the firm to survive the downward economic pressure by allowing its customers to switch traffic to cheaper ground-based options.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

Have you noticed a decrease of non-EU inbound parcel volumes since the implementation of the new €3 charge?

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