The UK has shown a way forward for mail liberalisation with the recently announced UK Mail and Royal Mail agreement that gives UK Mail the ability to collect bulk mail from customers and inject it into Royal Mail’s system for “final mile” delivery at an agreed discounted rate. It has been argued that this agreement seems to have been based on the mail “Worksharing” model in the US. Can Europe and the rest of the postal world learn more from this model in its quest to open up mail markets to competition and to the private sector?

In the US mail market, over 70% of the mail carried is “Workshared”, with the private sector and the USPS working together to provide core mail services. This model for private sector involvement has hardly been developed outside the USA, until now that is!

“Worksharing” with the United States Post Office provides private sector mailers there with revenues of over $14bn a year. Both consumers and the private and public sectors of the US mail industry see worksharing as a success.

Triangle has produced two major new reports on “Worksharing” in the USA: Domestic Worksharing with the USPS in the Mail Market and a companion edition focussing on Packages. The two reports provide descriptions of the key elements that comprise “Worksharing” with the USPS including the all important dropshipping/zone skipping elements. The reports examine the pricing mechanisms and decision criteria used to gain “Workshare” discounts. The regulatory structure and some recent reports of the Presidential Commission are reviewed including the new Negotiated Service Agreement.

Triangle interviewed key players in the worksharing market, both postal customers and service providers, seeking their views on the benefits and effectiveness of postal worksharing. The views of this panel, together with the results of Triangle’s research, are all brought together to provide a commercial view of the future prospects for worksharing in the US, its application as a model in other countries and an insight as to how this model has worked so successfully in the US.

These reports therefore provide essential reading for global regulators, both private and public sector postal service providers who need to understand what opportunities liberalised markets may hold for them, and operators seeking to participate further in the US mail and packages markets successfully through “Worksharing”.

• The “Domestic Worksharing with the USPS in the mail market” report and a companion edition “Domestic Worksharing with the USPS in the packages market” are available now at US$10,000 each + VAT or US$15,000 + VAT for both reports. They can be ordered through Triangle’s website: www.triangle.eu.com

• Triangle Management Services Ltd, founded in 1984, is the pre-eminent independent specialist management services company within the global mail, express and logistics sectors. As well as market research surveys, Triangle also offers the following services to clients: Consultancy, Recruitment, Mergers & Acquisitions and Conferences.

For further information contact: Sue Cornwall of Triangle Management Services Ltd. on +44 (0)870 950 7900, or e-mail: sue.cornwall@triangle.eu.com