› › Saving The Royal Mail S Universal Postal Service In The Digital Age

Multi-Modal Competition and the Future of Mail

Author : Michael A. Crew

Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

Page : 361 pages

File Size : 38,51 MB

Release : 2012

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 0857935828

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Book Description

This compilation of original papers selected from the 19th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics and authored by an international cast of economists, lawyers, regulators and industry practitioners addresses perhaps the major problem that has ever faced the postal sector – electronic competition from information and communication technologies (ICT). This has increased significantly over the last few years with a consequent serious drop in mail volume. All postal services have been hard hit by ICT, but probably the hardest hit is the United States Postal Service, which has lost almost a quarter of its mail volume since 2007. The loss of mail volume has a devastating effect on scale economies, which now work against post offices, forcing up their unit costs. Strategies to stem the loss in volume include non-linear pricing or volume discounts, increased efficiency and the development of new products. This loss of mail volume from ICT is one of a number of current problems addressed in this volume. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) continues to be a leading issue and concern that ICT undermines postal services' ability to finance the USO is discussed. The importance of measuring and forecasting demand and costs take on even greater importance as ICT undermines the foundations of the postal business. This thought provoking book brings to bear new analyses of the most serious threat post offices have ever faced and raises fundamental questions as to the future of mail. Multi-Modal Competition and the Future of Mail is an ideal resource for students, researchers in regulation and competition law, postal administrations, policy makers, consulting firms and regulatory bodies.



Masters of the Post

Author : Duncan Campbell-Smith

Publisher : Penguin UK

Page : 840 pages

File Size : 42,20 MB

Release : 2011-11-03

Category : History

ISBN : 0141973226

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Book Description

The origins of the Post Office go back to the early years of the Tudor monarchy: Brian Tuke, a former King's Bailiff in Sandwich, was acknowledged as the first 'Master of the Posts' by Cardinal Wolsey in 1512, and went on to build up a network of 'postmasters' across England for Henry VIII. Over the following five hundred years the Royal Mail expanded to an unimaginable degree to become the largest employer in the country, and the face of the British state for most people in their everyday lives. But it also faced the demands of an increasingly commercial marketplace. With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, the possibility of privatising the Royal Mail has prompted passionate arguments - and has added immeasurably to the difficulties of running it. In charting the whole of this extraordinary story, Duncan Campbell-Smith recounts a series of remarkable tales, including how postal engineers built the first programmable computer for the wartime code-breakers of Bletchley Park and how the Royal Mail managed to successfully continue delivering post to the front lines during two world wars, but also how they failed to avert the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He brings to life many of the dominant personalities in the Royal Mail's history - from Rowland Hill, who imposed a uniform penny post and set the great Victorian expansion on its way, to Tony Benn who championed the modernisation of the service in the 1960s and Tom Jackson who led the postal workers' biggest union through fifteen frequently stormy years up to 1982. This is the first complete history of the Royal Mail up to the present day, based on its comprehensive archives, and including the first detailed account of the past half-century of Britain's postal history, made possible by privileged access to confidential records. Today's debate over the future of the Royal Mail is shown to be just the ;atest chapter in a centuries-old conflict between its roles raising revenue and serving the public. Will its employees remain, like Brian Tuke's postmasters, servants of the Crown? This book could hardly appear at a more timely moment.



The Value of Everything

Author : Mariana Mazzucato

Publisher : PublicAffairs

Page : 356 pages

File Size : 12,2 MB

Release : 2018-09-11

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1610396758

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Book Description

Modern economies reward activities that extract value rather than create it. This must change to ensure a capitalism that works for us all. Shortlisted for the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award A scathing indictment of our current global financial system, The Value of Everything rigorously scrutinizes the way in which economic value has been accounted and reveals how economic theory has failed to clearly delineate the difference between value creation and value extraction. Mariana Mazzucato argues that the increasingly blurry distinction between the two categories has allowed certain actors in the economy to portray themselves as value creators, while in reality they are just moving around existing value or, even worse, destroying it. The book uses case studies-from Silicon Valley to the financial sector to big pharma-to show how the foggy notions of value create confusion between rents and profits, reward extractors and creators, and distort the measurements of growth and GDP. In the process, innovation suffers and inequality rises. The lesson here is urgent and sobering: to rescue our economy from the next inevitable crisis and to foster long-term economic growth, we will need to rethink capitalism, rethink the role of public policy and the importance of the public sector, and redefine how we measure value in our society.



Postal services in Scotland

Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Scottish Affairs Committee

Publisher : The Stationery Office

Page : 160 pages

File Size : 11,25 MB

Release : 2011-01-09

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780215555830

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Book Description

The Committee's report considers two key issues: the maintenance of a universal service and the continuation of a sustainable Post Office network across Scotland. The report welcomes assurances that Scotland would not be made exempt from the universal service obligation. Further clarification is needed on Ofcom's power to designate more than one universal service provider. Ofcom should be required to consult with consumers, small businesses and vulnerable users in remote, rural and island communities in Scotland before it recommends any changes to the existing USO. There are considerable advantages to a long, stable and robust relationship between Royal Mail Group and Post Office Ltd and the Committee recommends that a ten year Inter Business Agreement should be reached prior to any sale of Royal Mail. On the Post Office network, the Bill makes no provision for the number of Post Offices and does not set out criteria for access to the network, a matter of concern because the current criteria could be met by 7,500 branches rather than the existing 11,500 branches. This could lead to many closures in Scotland. The Committee recommends that the Government gives assurances to preserving the existing network of branches. Elements of Outreach Post Offices, which replaced 102 Post Office branches in rural and remote parts of Scotland, are not sufficiently robust or reliable to provide an adequate service, according to the Committee, and it fears the new Post Office Local risks downgrading the service further. Improvements should be delivered as a matter of urgency.



Saving the Royal Mail's universal postal service in the digital age

Author : Richard Hooper

Publisher : The Stationery Office

Page : 56 pages

File Size : 41,6 MB

Release : 2010-09-10

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780101793728

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Book Description

The Coalition Government asked Richard Hooper to update the 2008 report "Modernise or decline: policies to maintain the universal postal service in the United Kingdom" (Cm. 7529, 2008, ISBN 9780101752923). He finds the universal postal service still under serious threat, with most of the original causes for concern having got worse: the market and Royal Mail's market share continue to decline; the company has still not modernised sufficiently; the accounting pension deficit has grown from £2.9bn to £8.0bn; the current regulatory regime is not fit for purpose. The 2008 recommendation that private sector capital is required by Royal Mail is reiterated, for several reasons. The company is unlikely to generate sufficient cash to finance the modernisation required. Private sector capital will inject private sector disciplines and reduce the risk of political intervention in commercial decisions. And the state of the public finances means that Royal Mail will find it harder to compete for Government capital against other public spending priorities. But private capital will not be attracted without action on the pension deficit and the regulatory regime. The historic pension deficit should be taken over by the public purse. A new regulatory framework must be created that increases certainly for investors in the postal services sector in general and in Royal Mail in particular. Postcomm has recently consulted on a new framework, and this should be built upon. This update sets out the high level principles that should guide regulation, ensuring the overall burden is reduced.



Modernise Or Decline

Author : Richard Hooper

Publisher : The Stationery Office

Page : 172 pages

File Size : 21,98 MB

Release : 2008

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 9780101752923

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Book Description

This review (Cm. 7529, ISBN 9780102958393) was established to maintain the universal postal service, that is the collection, sorting, transportation and delivery of letters to all 28 million businesses and residential addresses. It sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations on how the universal service can be maintained. The postal service is seen as having a strong social and economic rationale. Customers place a high value on the affordability of the service, on a uniform tariff, and deliveries on six days per week. The Review states that the post offices provide a vital point of access for residential consumers and small businesses. The universal service is under threat though, with the explosion of digital media - the internet, email, mobile text and broadcasting - which has prompted an unprecedented decline in the letters market. The Review does see a positive future for the postal service, provided that postal companies are able to respond quickly to the changing needs of customers and embrace the opportunities which new technology brings. Although the Royal Mail is the only company currently capable of providing the universal service in the UK, it is much less efficient than many of its European peers and faces severe difficulties. Therefore a radical reform of the Royal Mail's network is inevitable, and the organisation needs to modernise faster. To sustain the universal service, the Royal Mail needs to tackle inefficiency, the pension deficit, and the difficult relationships between the company, unions and regulator. The Review sees two distinct phases to modernisation: (i) Transformation: that is, changing the culture of the organisation, by improving efficiency and reducing costs; (ii) Diversify: that is, finding new sources of revenue either by providing related products or expanding to cover a wider geographical area. The Review believes that the Royal Mail urgently needs commercial confidence, capital and corporate experience to modernise quickly and effectively, and recommends a strategic partnership with one or more private sector companies with demonstrable experience of transforming a major business, ideally a major network business, but that Post Office Ltd should remain wholly within public sector ownership.



Postal and Delivery Innovation in the Digital Economy

Author : Michael A. Crew

Publisher : Springer

Page : 334 pages

File Size : 15,7 MB

Release : 2014-12-12

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 3319128744

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Book Description

Worldwide, postal and delivery economics is the subject of considerable interest. The postal industry’s business model is in drastic need of change. Notably, the European Commission and member states are still wrestling with the problems of implementing liberalization of entry into postal markets, addressing digital competition, and maintaining the universal service obligation. In the United States, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 has, perhaps, exacerbated some of the problems faced by the United States Postal Service (USPS). Currently, the USPS has serious financial problems because of difficulties it faces in making changes and the failure of the Act to address problems that have been long-standing. Electronic competition is severe and affects post offices (POs) worldwide, which have been slow to address the threat. This book addresses this new reality and includes discussion of how POs may attempt to reinvent themselves. Parcels and packets will play a major role in developing new business models for postal operators. This book is of use not only to students and researchers interested in the field, but also to postal operators, consulting firms, utilities, regulatory commissions, Federal Government Departments and agencies of the European Union and other countries.



Preserving the People's Post Office

Author : Christopher W. Shaw

Publisher :

Page : 268 pages

File Size : 12,77 MB

Release : 2006

Category : Political Science

ISBN :

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Book Description

Christopher Shaw, the book's author said, "Through preferential postage rates for nonprofits the Postal Service facilitates civic involvement and a healthy democracy." Nader also noted, "Postal employees are fairly remunerated in an increasingly low-wage, low benefit 'Wal-Mart' economy." According to Nader, "Post offices serve as the heart of community life in neighborhoods and towns nationwide and the presence of postal workers on community streets make them safer, as the many beneficiaries of their frequently heroic efforts attest." "The lack of citizen-consumers' involvement in the recently passed postal reform legislation has highlighted the need for a public dialogue about the future of our postal system. The book provides a starting point for that conversation," stated Nader.



Shakespeare and the Digital World

Author : Christie Carson

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 279 pages

File Size : 36,7 MB

Release : 2014-06-12

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1107064368

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Book Description

This collection brings the broad discussion about digital humanities into focus through Shakespeare in research, teaching, publishing and performance.



Sophie's World

Author : Jostein Gaarder

Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Page : 599 pages

File Size : 26,27 MB

Release : 2007-03-20

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1466804270

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Book Description

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.