Swiss Post believes in offering a top-quality basic service. And it intends to do so, efficiently and successfully, even in a postal market completely deregulated by legislation. This is certainly possible, providing Swiss Post is granted the necessary entrepreneurial freedom as part of this new legislation. In its feedback during the consultation process, Swiss Post requested a number of amendments, the most important of which being - in the absence of any state guarantee - the opportunity to determine for itself in which markets it will operate. There was also mention of a banking licence and a basic service mandate without the limitations that result from having to define individual infrastructure elements.
Swiss Post expects this new legislation to completely open up the postal market. Over the coming years, therefore, it wants to develop and thus prove itself capable of providing an efficient basic service in an open market. Thanks to successful restructuring, improved levels of efficiency and positive performance figures in recent years, it is already well on the way to achieving this goal. The current positive results mean that Swiss Post can make important investments in advance of complete market deregulation in what is expected to be just under four years. It can also continue to promote innovation and customer orientation, consolidate the pension fund and compensate the Swiss federal government for capital it provided. Source: Swiss Post

Postwatch is, of course, concerned that the Universal Postal Service (daily deliveries and collections at uniform prices) has moved from profit to loss.



We welcome Adam Crozier confirming that the Universal Service is a huge asset to Royal Mail, part of the social fabric of the UK and vitally important to the economy. Customers will be reassured to read that Royal Mail’s vision for the future includes providing a high quality, efficient and profitable Universal Service.



It is timely that the Government’s Independent Review of the Postal Market is underway and will be reporting within the year on how the Universal Service should be financed in the future.
Source: Postwatch

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The Royal Mail could become incapable of maintaining its commitment to delivering a UK-wide price structure for its letter and parcel service, says a government-commissioned review.
At the same time, competition in postal services has delivered no benefits for domestic consumers and small businesses, according to the review set up to advise John Hutton, the Business Secretary.
Details of severe financial pressure facing the organisation have emerged just a year after it received a GBP 3.9 billion government rescue package. Royal Mail has a GBP 3.4 billion pension deficit and last year its profits fell by a third to GBP 223 million.
The review, which will make final recommendations later in the year, said that Royal Mail’s finances are so precarious that they could derail its obligation to the universal service, which allows stamped mail to go anywhere in the country for the same price.
The review was led by Richard Hooper, a former deputy chairman of Ofcom, the communications industry regulator. It criticises the Royal Mail for being slow to modernise and also cautions that modernisation in the future will be more difficult because of a decline in the letters market.
Domestic consumers and small businesses have failed to win any of the advantages from the liberalisation of the market that have been enjoyed by big business, the review says. While large businesses have secured better rates and service from Royal Mail and rivals, stamp price rises and fewer services have affected households and small companies.
Postcomm, the regulator, gave warning that the review that “without extensive change, the Royal Mail’s business model will become unsustainable”. If there are no significant changes at the organisation, the regulator envisaged negative cash flow of GBP 400 million a year by 2012. Source: The Times
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The Dutch government will brief Parliament in a fortnight on whether it will open up the domestic postal market to full competition on July 1, as previously envisioned.

Dutch Junior Economy Minister Frank Heemskerk said in March he hoped to open the market in July depending on developments in Germany and labour talks between Dutch postal companies and trade unions.

TNT has the remaining monopoly for letters of up to 50 grammes, with the market estimated to be worth about 1 billion euros (USD 1.55 billion) in 2007.

The Netherlands postponed the full opening of the market, due in January, partly because of the introduction of a minimum wage for postal workers in Germany, which it said impedes competition and where TNT had hoped to expand its operations.

The economy ministry has commissioned a report by a research firm on the impact of the German minimum wage, which it will present to parliament on May 20, Heemskerk wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday.

He will also present a report by EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on mail market liberalisation.

Heemskerk cited an agreement struck by trade unions and TNT's rivals, privately owned Sandd and Deutsche Post's Dutch unit Selekt Mail, last month regarding labour conditions for postal workers. "Based on these documents, Parliament and I expect to have a comprehensive picture and can judge if the legislative proposal for July 1, 2008 can be implemented," Heemskerk wrote in the letter. Source: Reuters

The liberalisation of the UK postal service has produced "no significant benefits" for either households or small businesses, a report has said.

That is the initial finding of an independent review of the UK postal sector commissioned by the government.

It warned there was now a threat to the Royal Mail's financial stability.

The independent panel warned that the "substantial threat" to the Royal Mail's financial security threatened the universal service - the collection and delivery to all UK addresses.

Maintaining the universal service is at the heart of this review - ensuring collection from pillar boxes and post offices and delivery to all addresses

As a result, the independent panel - which will produce its full report in the summer - said the continuing "status quo is not tenable".

While the initial report said homes and small firms had not gained from the increased competition, it said large companies had "seen clear benefits from liberalisation - choice, lower prices and more assurance about the quality of the mail service".

It says these large firms have benefited from the big growth in competition in the bulk mail sector - postal firms that collect, sort and transport bulk mail before handing it over to the Royal Mail for the final delivery.

Yet at the same time, the report found that the Royal Mail still had "virtually no competition" in the delivery of addressed letters over the "final mile" to letterboxes.

The core problem for the Royal Mail is that while it has lost business in the lucrative bulk mail collection and sorting market, it still has to uphold the universal mail delivery service, which struggles to make a profit.

The Royal Mail and regulator Postcomm have both declined to comment on the initial report. Source: BBC

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Canada Post's new union president is warning Canadians that their mail delivery could be in jeopardy and hundreds of jobs could be lost.
In an interview with Sun Media, new Canada Post national union president Denis Lemelin accused the Conservatives and Canada Post CEO Moya Greene of attempting to deregulate postal services in Canada.
Lemelin pointed to the Harper government's recently announced "strategic review" of Canada Post, set to examine which services should remain under the monopoly of Canada Post and which should become fair game in a competitive market.
A final report is expected in December.

Canada Post currently has a monopoly over the delivery of letters up to 500 grams to 15 million doors across the country.
Lemelin fears that deregulation could mean that Canadians in metropolitan areas might have their daily mail handled by UPS, Federal Express or Purolator.
"These private companies could decide to implement distribution centres in the greater areas and handle mail delivery for Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto," he said.
He also warned that deregulation would result in hundreds of layoffs across Canada and an increase in stamp prices.
"The private sector would invest in the greater metropolitan areas -- where it's profitable," he said.
"The public postal service would end up with less profitable sectors, such as rural areas. Source: Ottawa Sun

Postcomm welcomed the emerging views of the independent review panel on the UK postal services market.

Postcomm chairman, Nigel Stapleton said: “We will be considering the emerging views of the panel and will use them to inform our second submission.”

Postcomm’s first submission highlighted the positive impact for customers since the addressed letters market was opened fully to competition in January 2006. Since then:

- larger customers have enjoyed lower prices and increased innovation;
- residential mail users have experienced record levels of service quality from Royal Mail; and
- smaller businesses and public sector customers are now beginning to reap the benefits of choice.

Postcomm believes the future health of Royal Mail, the universal service, and the addressed letters market are inextricably linked. Decisions about fundamental reform must be taken swiftly if Royal Mail is to lead a healthier mail market and provide a strong universal service. Source: Postcomm

Poste Italiane may join a consortium of Italian investors to acquire Alitalia SpA as the state-owned post office seeks to grow its cargo business, the daily Finanza & Mercati said in an unsourced report.

The newspaper said Francesco Pizzo, the head of Poste Italiane's airline unit Mistral, had indicated a few months ago the company was interested in Alitalia's cargo business and its logistics base at the Malpensa airport in Milan. Source: Forbes

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) have agreed to work together to slash the CO2 emissions caused by members of the postal sector.

Under the agreement signed in Berne last week by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, and Edouard Dayan, Director General of the UPU, UNEP will help the UPU calculate the volumes of greenhouse gases generated by the postal sector, using a clearly-defined methodology.

The UPU’s International Bureau is shortly to launch a survey of the organization’s 191 member countries, to collect data on the sector as a whole, including buildings and vehicles, the mileage these vehicles cover, and the volumes of fuel consumed. Once this information has been gathered, UNEP will help the UPU develop a method to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the postal sector. The UPU and UNEP will then offer postal operators a range of solutions to cut these emissions, and will monitor the impact of these measures from year to year.

The issue of the environment will be discussed extensively at the Congress, and Mr. Steiner will take part in the General Debate on 25 July 2008, which will be attended by heads of international organizations, representatives of the governments and operators of the UPU member countries, and other decision-makers from across the sector.

According to even the most modest estimates, the world postal sector comprises over five million staff (twice that number if we consider the wider sector) and 660,000 postal establishments, and uses some 250,000 motorcycles, over 600,000 cars, vans and trucks, and hundreds of aircraft to deliver mail to the four corners of the world... Not to mention the tonnes of paper used daily in postal communications. The sector therefore has a significant role to play in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Source: UPU

The U.S. Postal Service commissioned Burlingame-based TrackingTheWorld to create the world’s first letter-tracking GPS device that will ensure letters never again are lost in the postal Bermuda Triangle. Dubbed the Letter Logger, the device stores GPS coordinates throughout its journey and stores information on its micro-SD flash memory card so the post office can keep tabs on the letter’s location.

The Letter Logger weighs just two ounces and is 3.9-by-1.5 inches. It is placed inside a regular No. 10 envelope and can operate for two weeks. The recipient of the chip can then upload the GPS data onto their computer and see the envelope’s route on Google Earth.

The gadget was released in February, when it was named gadget of the month by Popular Science magazine. The product is only a quarter-inch thick and costs USD 6.75 apiece.

The USPS does employ a variety of tracking devices to its letters and packages and uses GPS to track vehicles, but it does not have a GPS system to track individual letters, spokesman James Wigdel said.

In addition to avoiding lost mail, the device will help the postal service, and delivery companies such as UPS and DHL, minimize the amount of time a letter is being sent, Daggett said. Source: examiner.com

After trials on hand-held tracker/scanners carried out by 700 Royal Mail postal workers ended in March, Royal Mail is to expand the installation of the technology throughout its fleet of vehicles.

The scanner/trackers (PDAs) are already in use by other postal and parcel operators but Royal Mail has been testing different types to establish which work best in the field. So far, none have been a great success for postal workers operating on foot, but one has been selected for use in vehicles throughout the network. The name of the manufacturer will be announced shortly.

The scanners include an emergency 999 facility to provide added protection for users, the ability to scan signatures for delivery verification, as well as log collection points in real time via GPS.

The CWU, which was initially concerned that the introduction of the technology would enable Royal Mail to 'spy' on workers, has agreed that the new equipment would provide an important enhancement to services as well as added protection for operatives - providing a code of conduct is agreed between the CWU and Royal Mail. Source: Hellmail

TNT Post is launching a carbon neutral addressed postal service which will allow brands to demonstrate their environmental credentials with a specially developed 'eco-mark'.

Brands which want to display the eco-mark on their mailings will have to comply with a set of principles laid out by TNT.

In order to qualify, brands will have to undertake a carbon evaluation using a calculator which looks at the emissions of the entire mailing activity, from paper and packaging through to data, mailing house emissions and final delivery.

TNT will also assist participating brands with their carbon reduction by recommending suppliers that can help to reduce emissions, such as data cleansing and capturing undeliverables.

Brands using the service will also be required to offset their remaining emissions by investing in carbon reduction schemes. Source: Precision Marketing

The Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU) has called on the Government to retain the Post Office network as the provider of choice for the delivery of welfare payments.

Speaking at the IPU's annual conference in Mullingar, the union's general secretary called for the retention of the contract in order to halt the closure of post offices.

IPU General Secretary John Kane said: “The network is currently in rapid decline. There are now 1200 Post Offices following 500 closures in the past eight years and the stark fact is that the future of there being a localised network depends on the retention of social welfare business.”

According to IPU figures, the share of the social welfare contract handled by Post Offices declined from 80% in 1998 to 55% in 2005, as people pay directly into their bank accounts.

The government is currently reviewing the social welfare contract and has yet to make a decision on a future policy regarding the delivery of payments.
Source: The Irish Times

Royal Mail, in it's application to the Postal Services Commission for relief from the impact of Industrial Action, said that a number of factors had caused a drop in quality of service in 2007 but the underlying cause was industrial action brought on by essential changes to make the business more efficient. It said the changes formed part of the loan it had secured from government to modernise the business.

The application timetabled the impact of events caused by national, rolling, and wildcat strikes but said that it was not possible to "identify every small event that contributed to the wider degradation in quality of service during the year as a result of work to rule and go-slow activity".

It said that settling the industrial dispute on unsatisfactory terms had not been an option and in finding a solution to the dispute, the transformation of Royal Mail and the funding secured by government had to be protected as much as the long term interests of Royal Mail and it's customers.

Royal Mail said that as well as industrial action over pay and conditions, it had also experienced industrial action over delivery office closures which again, were part of an overall plan to make the business more efficient. In addition, the new EC legislation relating to 56mph driving speed restrictions for 7.5 tonne vehicles, which became law in January 2008, required the restructuring of Royal Mail’s network operations and duty patterns in delivery, resulting in changes to the start time for over 100,000 delivery postmen and women. It said the CWU had used the changes as both a bargaining and propaganda tool during the dispute. Source: Hellmail

Postcomm received summons that Royal Mail intends to seek a judicial review of the regulator’s decision to reject the company’s recent ‘retail zonal pricing’ application.

Postcomm say the initial application was received in February 2007, studied with great care, and consulted on widely, at Royal Mail’s request. Postcomm rejected the application because it put forward a pricing structure that appeared to have a number of discriminatory features and would have been introduced in a way that would lead to unreasonable changes for its customers. It is now for the court to determine the merits of the case.

Postcomm has not ruled out any future moves towards retail zonal pricing for products outside the universal service should Royal Mail propose an alternative approach that avoids the problems presented by the recent application. Postcomm is generally supportive of pricing that is more reflective of costs. Source: Hellmail

The director of information and communication in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, has revealed that the postal policy and new postal legislation are near completion after both documents were subjected to extensive stakeholder sensitisation.

Making the observation at an interactive meeting last Tuesday, between the Bureau and organised labour on the postal sector reform and the restructuring of NIPOST, Dikki said, "on completion, the final postal bill would be sent to the Ministry of Information and Communications which would forward it to the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

He listed the objectives of the postal reform including; "to grant the postal sector sufficient autonomy to run its own affairs; guarantee all segments of the population access to universal service; provision of quality services which support the Universal Service Obligation (USO); separate between operators, regulator and policy makers; ensure an open, liberalised market with equal opportunity for all competitors; guarantee economic viability of the public postal operator; ensure that the population had access to services according to the technological evolution of the postal service; and ahieve quality standards similar to best international practice.

A statement issued yesterday by the head, public communications, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, stated that Post Master General, Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba, pointed out that his organisation welcomes the envisaged reforms as it is hoped they would strengthen service delivery in the postal sector.

The representative of the minister of Information and Communications, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozika Okeisaibo, explained that the ministry is committed to a smooth restructuring of the postal sector. Source: allafrica.com