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CWU/Royal Mail Reach Interim Agreement - November 6, 2009
[Press Release.]Royal Mail today released the interim agreement reached yesterday with the Communication Workers Union with the help of Brendan Barber. The company said that the agreement is on all key issues the same as that discussed last month with the union. Royal Mail said it is clearly very pleased that the CWU has now decided to accept the agreement.
Royal Mail’s statement issued yesterday evening is set out below and the agreement is attached.
Mark Higson, Managing Director of Royal Mail Letters, said [yesterday]: "I’m delighted for our customers and our people that we’ve got back to a sensible agreement with the CWU that will allow us to deliver a great Christmas while getting on with vital talks about the long term future of Royal Mail - and allows us to drive forward with the essential modernisation of Royal Mail in the new year.
"We look forward to positive and constructive discussions on the next stage of Royal Mail’s modernisation plan, which is key to the future of the company, all those who rely on it, and to the future of the Universal Service."
Mr Higson added: "I’m extremely grateful to Brendan Barber for the tremendous help and support he has given over the last few weeks. I’d also like to thank all those who have worked so hard to minimise disruption and to keep the mail moving for our customers."
"I should also add that, as the issue has been raised today, the future of the Royal Mail pension scheme does not and cannot form any part of this agreement. Earlier this year the Government put forward a package of solutions which provided a resolution to the pension issue and would have helped secure our people’s benefits - however the CWU chose to campaign against that package and the Government has since made it clear that it is now no longer available."
[Interim Agreement.]
USPS Announces 2010 Shipping Prices - November 5, 2009
[Press Release.]The simpler way to ship — with convenient Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes from the U.S. Postal Service — will be just as simple in the New Year, when new prices take effect.
Prices for Priority Mail, a product familiar across America through popular television and online advertisements featuring Al the Letter Carrier, will change on Jan. 4, 2010. Customers also can look forward to several Priority Mail innovations.
In a first for the shipping industry, the Postal Service is introducing cubic volume-based pricing for large volume commercial Priority Mail shippers. Customers who ship small dense, space-efficient packages will receive a financial incentive through a new, tiered pricing option. This encourages greener, more efficient shipping and is one more way the Postal Service is eco friendly.
Other benefits for Priority Mail customers effective in January include a decrease in the domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope retail price from $4.95 to $4.90. The popular Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box will continue to be one of the best consumer values in the domestic shipping market at under $5. Its 2010 price will remain at $4.95.
Cubic volume-based pricing will not be the only first in January for customers who qualify to ship at Commercial Plus prices. A Priority Mail half-pound price, based on distance, will be added only in the Commercial Plus pricing category. And, a new Priority Mail Flat Rate padded envelope measuring 9.5 x 12.5 inches will be available exclusively for Commercial Plus shippers. This envelope is specially designed for jewelry, electronics and other delicate goods.
“We have put together a range of creative and innovative products and services for our customers,” said Robert Bernstock, president, Mailing and Shipping Services. “With these new offerings, the Postal Service is reinforcing the value of Priority Mail as the right product at the right time,” he said.
In addition to an overall price increase of 3.3 percent, on average, for Priority Mail, there will be new prices for Express Mail, Global Express Guaranteed, Express Mail International, Priority Mail International, Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service, also effective Jan. 4.
Prices for First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Parcel Post and other mailing services products will not change in 2010, with the cost of a First-Class Mail stamp remaining at 44 cents.
“The Postal Service is the best buy in the market, whether you’re watching your budget or gearing up as the economy starts to rebound,” Bernstock said, noting that other shippers have announced price increases of nearly 6 percent for 2010, excluding fuel surcharges. Most shippers add extra fees for fuel, rural delivery, Saturday delivery and other items to a customer’s final bill. The Postal Service has no comparable surcharges.
Customers who pay for their shipping services online will continue to save compared to retail prices. Online costs will be, on average, 5 percent less than retail for Express Mail and 5.7 percent less for Priority Mail. Online savings for international shipping will be 10 percent less than retail for Global Express Guaranteed, 8 percent less for Express Mail International and 5 percent less for Priority Mail International.
A complete listing of 2010 prices is available at http://pe.usps.com under the “Jan. 2010 Price Change” link. The new prices and product innovations are pending Postal Regulatory Commission review.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
Royal Mail Strike Prompts the Unlikely Return of the Telegram - November 4, 2009
[The Telegraph.]Thousands of people have started to use telegrams – one of the earliest forms of long distance communication - for their urgent messages as the national postal strike deepens.
Telegram firms are reporting an increase in business as customers try to beat the effects of the worst postal stoppages for two years.
The news comes as thousands of postal workers prepare to stop work later this week as part of the increasingly bitter dispute. Last night postal unions said 100million items of mail have been so far caught up in the backlog caused by the strikes.
Most of the recent demand for telegrams has been driven by banks and employers desperate to make sure that important news – mainly bad – reaches customers and staff in writing within a couple of hours.
Telegramsonline, which entered the British market when it bought BT’s telegrams business in 2003, said it was delivering four times more telegrams than normal.
For the past fortnight, the Channel Islands-based company has been delivering up to 10,000 of its “same day” messages a week, through a network of 500 couriers across Britain.
The Queen, along with the heads of other European royal families, is a big user. Rob van Hoof, a spokesman, said: “She is one of our good customers. These strikes are very important to us. They are always of benefit to us.”
Eighty per cent of the extra demand was from banks trying to contact customers with bills, or employers issuing staff with final warnings. “This is because the bad news is more important than the happy news,” he said.
Couriergram, which claims to be the UK’s oldest surviving telegram company, said that the number of telegrams it sent out was up a third, from 1,300 a week to 2,000 a week.
Couriergram, which was set up in 1982 following the demise of the Post Office’s Inland Telegram Service, said its business was also being fuelled by companies chasing payment.
The rest of the firm’s telegram weekly postbag was made of the usual mix of condolence, birth, marriage and anniversary messages.
The door-to-door service is particularly good for contacting people whose telephone number is listed as ex-directory.
Andrew Robinson, managing director of Couriergram, said: “We are seeing a rise in business. Each telegram is individually delivered by hand to their door by an independent courier.”
Just as in 1845 – when the first telegram was sent – today’s telegram firms pride themselves on being able to deliver messages to the recipient’s door within two hours of it being sent to the company.
The telegrams can arrive wrapped in an orange sleeve, marked as a telegram in the traditional way, or printed on a company’s letter-head.
The chief difference is that today’s telegram senders can place their orders over the internet – and the messages are not priced by the word, but by the page.
Telegramonline charges its customers £40 for the first A4 page, followed by £5 for every following page. Couriergram charges a flat rate of £40 per message.
Although more than 50million telegrams were sent annually just before the Second World War, their popularity has declined to a few thousand a week because of the popularity of faxes and emails.
TNT Experiencing Mixed Fortunes In UK Strike - November 3, 2009
[The Telegraph.]TNT, the Dutch-based postal business and biggest private mail operator in Britain, is experiencing mixed fortunes in the Royal Mail strikes as it wrestles with labour troubles in its home market.
Its express business is picking up customers in Britain but its postal operation is suffering because it depends on the Royal Mail for final delivery.
TNT, one of the mail business eager to take a stake in Royal Mail before the Government about turn on a partial flotation, believes it will end up benefiting from the disruption in Britain.
Henk van Dalen, chief financial officer, said that while the strikes were creating difficulties in the short-term "in the long-term customers might switch to TNT because they think Royal Mail isn't reliable".
He was speaking after TNT announced its fifth successive fall in quarterly profits amid signs that cost cutting and improvements in its express business are helping the group to turn the corner. Third-quarter net profits of €99m (£89.4m) were down 12.4pc on year earlier on turnover 7.6pc lower at €2.48bn but both sets of figures beat analysts' forecasts.
Mail volumes continued to suffer from more competition resulting from liberalisation of the home market business. TNT has achieved €368m of the €500m it wants to save from cost cutting this year but is struggling to finalise a new labour agreement covering cutbacks in its mail business.
One deal has already been rejected although Mr van Dalen is hopeful of avoiding a Royal Mail style confrontation and concluding an agreement by the end of the year.
UPU Puts Addressing On UN Agenda - November 3, 2009
[Press Release.]UPU Director General Edouard Dayan urged United Nations organizations and agencies on Friday to join a UPU campaign to develop efficient addressing systems world-wide.
Attending the United Nations Chief Executives Board meeting in New York, Dayan told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and colleagues that addresses are a critical tool for economic and social development and an essential part of a country’s national infrastructure.
Addresses are taken for granted in industrialized countries, but billions of people in developing countries don’t have them, preventing citizens from being full members of the community, Dayan said.
“People without addresses cannot easily vote or enjoy a full legal identity, nor can they easily open a bank account or qualify for credit or loans,” he recalled.
The head of the UN agency for postal services reminded his colleagues that addresses are important for delivering health and emergency services, developing rural and urban policies, and providing access to basic public services such as electricity or water.
“How can you apply for a decent job without a personal address? How can businesses sell and customers buy online if there is no physical address for delivering the goods? How can people get a passport or an ID?” said Dayan.
The UPU wants to raise awareness of addressing systems and give an address to everyone in the world. Plans include the creation of a multi-agency working group and holding a global summit on addressing in 2011.
Many postal-sector stakeholders are enthusiastic about the initiative. The United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, UNESCO, the International Telecommunications Union and UN-Habitat have also indicated their desire to join the campaign.
UPU Puts Addressing On UN Agenda - November 3, 2009
[Press Release.]UPU Director General Edouard Dayan urged United Nations organizations and agencies on Friday to join a UPU campaign to develop efficient addressing systems world-wide.
Attending the United Nations Chief Executives Board meeting in New York, Dayan told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and colleagues that addresses are a critical tool for economic and social development and an essential part of a country’s national infrastructure.
Addresses are taken for granted in industrialized countries, but billions of people in developing countries don’t have them, preventing citizens from being full members of the community, Dayan said.
“People without addresses cannot easily vote or enjoy a full legal identity, nor can they easily open a bank account or qualify for credit or loans,” he recalled.
The head of the UN agency for postal services reminded his colleagues that addresses are important for delivering health and emergency services, developing rural and urban policies, and providing access to basic public services such as electricity or water.
“How can you apply for a decent job without a personal address? How can businesses sell and customers buy online if there is no physical address for delivering the goods? How can people get a passport or an ID?” said Dayan.
The UPU wants to raise awareness of addressing systems and give an address to everyone in the world. Plans include the creation of a multi-agency working group and holding a global summit on addressing in 2011.
Many postal-sector stakeholders are enthusiastic about the initiative. The United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, UNESCO, the International Telecommunications Union and UN-Habitat have also indicated their desire to join the campaign.
DHL Enters Five-Year Multi-Million Pound Distribution Deal With News International - November 3, 2009
[Press Release.]DHL Supply Chain has been awarded a multi-million pound five-year contract with News International to handle the delivery of four leading national newspapers from print plants to wholesalers across England and Wales.
The deal will see DHL delivering The Sun, The Times, News of the World and The Sunday Times - amounting to over 25 million newspapers every week.
The partnership follows a 12-way competitive pitch. News International is the largest publisher of newspapers in the UK and the deal covers distribution from its four print plants, through the DHL Supply Chain network, to over 68 locations, seven days a week, 364 days a year.
Hellenic Post Restructuring Ahead of Liberalization in 2013 - November 2, 2009
[English Capital.]State-run Hellenic Post (ELTA) is to go through major restructuring ahead of the liberalization of the postal services market in 2013.
It is noted that on a European level, the liberalization is set to be implemented on 2010. Greece was granted a two year extension on the grounds of its geographical particularities, that is its numerous islands.
The government is set to gear ELTA towards new, innovative services and products with new technologies on the spotlight.
Sources told Capital.gr that the shut down or the merger of ELTA units seems to be an one-way street in the new, extremely competitive environment that is emerging.
The company is struggling on costly payrolls due to the numerous staff (11,000 employees) of the national network, that counts 800 post offices.
The big bet for the postal services provider is the differentiation from the traditional postal services, that currently account for more than 85 percent of the company's turnover.
ELTA posted H1 2009 losses that exceed 15 mil. euro with its operational profitability being flat.
TNT Q3 Results: Sharp Focus On Cost And Cash Continues To Pay Off - November 2, 2009
[Press Release.]
Highlights:
Group
" Cash flow remains strong; full-year cost-savings targets reaffirmed
" Profit from continuing operations 102 million euro, 10% blow Q3 2008
Express
" Quarter-on-quarter improvement in Express volumes and weight per consignment
" Continuing success in achieving cost savings: 128 million euro in Q3 2009, 368 million euro year to date
" Underlying operating income of 77 million euros (99 million euros in Q3 2008)
Mail
" Addressed mail volume decline in the Netherlands 4.8% i line with trend
" Strong Master plan savings of 24 million euros in the quarter
" Operating income in line with Q3 2008
CEO Peter Bakker comments:
In this quarter the trading environment has stabilised further with some early signs of positive underlying developments. With Q3 being the low volume season, the EBIT of both our divisions is at a satisfactory level.
The rate of decline of Express volumes has modestly improved. In particular, the average weight per consignment developed positively for the first time in a year, while price pressure remained. At the same time, our people continue to deliver on cost.
Mail achieved a solid result helped by strong Master plan savings in the quarter. Discussions with our unions to find ways of achieving necessary cost savings are ongoing.
TNT is optimally positioned to take advantage of a possible economic upturn but also needs to be prepared for continued harsh economic conditions and therefore remains focused on achieving its aggressive cost and cash control targets.
'Post Office In Your Hand’ an interview with Ross Philo, CIO and senior VP, USPS IT operations - November 2, 2009
The scope of the U.S. Postal Service is vast--208 billion pieces of mail delivered last year, 656,000 employees, 221,000 vehicles, 32,700 post offices--and its challenges are in proportion to its scale. The amount of mail handled by the Postal Service declined last year, while revenue, at $75 billion, was flat.
The Postal Service is looking to right itself through consolidation of offices, downsizing its workforce, and offering new services. Just a few days ago, it announced new capabilities for smartphones, including Track & Confirm, Post Office locator, and Zip Code lookup.
CIO and senior VP Ross Philo oversees the Postal Services' IT operations and reports to Postmaster General and CEO Jack Potter. Philo is included among InformationWeek's Government CIO 50, a group of the most influential technology executives in government.
Prior to joining USPS in February 2008, Philo worked for Cisco, startup Visean, Halliburton (as CIO), and Schlumberger. InformationWeek talked to Philo about how IT is being applied within the Postal Service to manage costs, improve operations, and deliver new services.
Interview
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