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You are in: Press Releases |
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| Independent Specialist Services to
the Mail Express Freight and Logistics Industries |
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07 January 2002 |
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Lots Of New Issues Raised At Orlando Conference |
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The World Mail & Express Conference, the 15th in the series but the first to be specifically focused on the Americas, went ahead despite the events of 11 September having a detrimental effect on travel and attendance. The Conference was considered to be highly successful and addressed a number of controversial issues.
Delegates from over 32 countries found the many presentations of considerable interest, the biggest issue being the uneven playing field for the private and public sectors in the areas of customs and mail and express liberalisation.
Private Mail Distribution
Another controversial item was the increasing use in South America of private postal services, rather than fellow UPU members, particularly by large European post offices.
Theo Jongsma, Chief Executive of G3 Worldwide Mail, the new joint venture between Consignia, Singapore Post and TNT, emphasised that 85% of their mail delivery in South America was now through private operators. They wished to encourage alternatives and develop competition to the national operators. Jongsma stated the company’s intention was to also further this desire in Europe. For example, they intend in the new year to introduce a Saturday delivery service in Belgium. Although they expected this to be challenged in the courts, Jongsma argued this was the only way to push forward the frontiers of liberalisation and improve services to the customer. Remote International Post Offices
Another issue that is certainly going to cause heartache in the new year is the UPU’s concern, shared particularly by the USA, Canada and Japan, about the remote use of international mail authorisation which is rapidly accelerating a new form of remail by making use of ETOEs (extra-territorial offices of exchange). This is a scheme whereby a post office allows a private company in a third country to act on its behalf despatching its mail to the final delivery country as though the mail had arrived from the authorising post office. By taking advantage of the lower fees paid to destination post offices for delivery by some countries, originating post offices can achieve a substantial discount. Tom Leavey, the Director General of the UPU, said that this fundamentally contradicted the principles of the UPU and Bob Michelson, Head of International Marketing for USPS, confirmed that this sort of mail will not now be accepted in the USA without the higher international rates or domestic rates being charged.
Triangle Chief Executive Paul Jackson commented that the fundamental problem was that international mail rates in many countries are excessively high. “These parallel systems are undercutting the marketplace and moving the mail often at a lower cost than the originating national post office. This is not dissimilar to what happened to international telephone call rates and is a subject yet to fully run out. Over the last year there has been an explosion of what is in effect remote franchising. It is difficult to say whether this is illegal and it is also difficult to police – the international mail customers are certainly benefiting at the moment and several highly entrepreneurial mailhouses (including some of the expanding European post offices) are earning healthy margins.”
Security
Not surprisingly, the security session in the conference was expanded from its originally planned roundtable discussion. Interesting presentations were given by the post offices of Brazil and Chile, the FAA and the US Postal Inspection Service. Manuel Gonzalez-Latimer, Postal Inspector at the USPIS, said that there had been 14,700 anthrax hoaxes since 11 September and this had caused the evacuation of 527 mail facilities. USPS had also purchased 90 million pairs of plastic gloves for their staff, equating to five pairs per day per staff member! The situation is similar in Chile where there have been 935 hoaxes since 11 September.
The World Mail & Express Americas Conference, which brings the private and public sectors together, will now be held on a regular basis and the next conference is pencilled in for Brazil or Chile in November 2002 or 2003.
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Triangle Contacts: |
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For more information on Triangle conferences please contact Chrissie Schuler on ChrissieS@triangle.eu.com |
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