WORLD POSTAL NEWS

 No 7-2021

Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1. USPS expands digital fingerprinting at hundreds of post offices. January 29, 2021.
2. Meeting with ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian!
January 29, 2021.
3. New research says sustainability important to small business success. January 28, 2021.
4. Posti and Sanoma agree long-term agreement on early-morning delivery, partnership supports lifecycle of printed media.
January 28, 2021.
5. UPS Announces Agreement to Sell UPS Freight to TFI International Inc. January 25, 2021.
1. USPS expands digital fingerprinting at hundreds of post offices
January 29, 2021
The U.S. Postal Service is expanding the digital fingerprinting service it offers the public to hundreds of new post offices this year.
USPS struck a deal with French security company IDEMIA to bring its biometric capture and in-person proofing services to between 400 and 500 post offices, out of 31,000, by the end of 2021.
The financially ailing agency wants to use its nationwide retail network to generate more revenue, while also meeting its five-year strategic goal to improve people’s access to e-government services.
“We’ll be able to scale at whatever pace they want to once the initial solution is delivered,”
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Shane Powers, vice president of operations at IDEMIA National Security Solutions, told FedScoop.
The FBI introduced an electronic departmental order several years ago requiring USPS to conduct identity history summary checks (IDHSCs) of potential employees. The process required fingerprints be sent in, which took weeks.
So USPS launched a digital fingerprinting pilot with the FBI two years ago and found the new service took hours with a high return on investment. All searches go through the FBI’s system.
USPS hopes to extend digital fingerprinting to other federal agencies as well, making it a bigger player within the employee vetting space across government.
“I think we’re going to see other agencies look at this model as well,” Powers said.
Source : https://www.fedscoop.com/
2. Meeting with ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian!
January 29, 2021
The main topics were:
 the conclusion of the general collective agreement and the implementation at Post AG (Austrian Post) and A1 Telekom
 the current social partner agreement on home office regulation
 the demand for an extension of the tax exemption for the corona premium
 the vaccination strategy in the companies
Clear rules for home office fixed
Together with the Chamber of Labor, the unions have demanded clear framework conditions for working from home and have now prevailed.
ÖGB President Wolfgang Katzian and GPF Chairman Richard Köhler agree that it was an urgently needed step for the workers.
"It is important that, after lengthy negotiations, clear framework conditions for working in the home office have finally been agreed," said Katzian.
The cornerstones:
Clarity in the form of regulations. Home office remains voluntary, it cannot be prescribed by the employer, it has to be agreed - ideally with a works agreement, for which there will be a separate works agreement. Both sides, i.e. employers and employees, have the option of withdrawing from this agreement in the future. The home office agreement can be terminated with one month's notice.
Mandatory right to equipment or reimbursement of expenses The employer must provide digital devices or pay for work with personal devices. If private digital work equipment (cell phone, laptop, internet) is used, the employer must reimburse the costs. These lump sums for costs in the home office are tax-free up to 300 euros annually.
Better insurance coverage. The accident insurance protection in the home office is not only improved, but also a permanent right. Employee liability will be expanded.
Source : https://www.gpf.at/
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3. New research says sustainability important to small business success
January 28, 2021
New research from Australia Post shows almost half of small businesses across the country consider sustainability to be very important to their future success, with many looking to invest more heavily in this area in 2021.
With small businesses making up 98 per cent of all Australian businesses and employing close to half the nation’s workforce, it has never been more important for small businesses to consider the role sustainability plays in their growth.
The research, released by Australia Post in collaboration with the Banksia Foundation, features in the report Small business sustainability in a COVID-19 world, and examines what the key drivers and sustainability issues are for small businesses right now.
Focusing on three key themes: operating responsibly, building resilience and regeneration in a world impacted by COVID-19, the report also provides a 10-step roadmap to help business owners prioritise sustainability and achieve their goals through methods such as committing to sustainable packaging, assessing their existing practices and adopting a principles based approach to doing business.
Australia Post Executive General Manager, Business, Government and International, Gary Starr said sustainability for businesses now extends beyond reputation and trust, and is critical to long-term survival, security and competitive advantage.
“It’s a new year, and there has never been a more important time for small businesses to be directing their focus towards sustainability and improving their overall resilience,” said Mr Starr.
“Research consistently finds that consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that are sustainable, and many are willing to pay more for products and services that protect the environment or don’t infringe on human rights, and this trend has only been accelerated by the pandemic.
“As many small to medium businesses are often occupied with the immediate concerns of running a business, sustainability isn’t always top of mind, but developing more sustainable products and operations is becoming increasingly important, and it’s easier to get started than many businesses realise.
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“Small businesses are the engine room of our economy and one of Australia Post’s largest customer groups, we hope this research will be helpful to businesses embarking on a journey towards sustainability so they can take advantage of new opportunities and grow their business in a sustainable way,” Mr Starr concluded.
Banksia Foundation Chief Executive Officer Graz Van Egmond said unlike large businesses, resources are limited to assist small businesses to be more sustainable, and she hopes this report will guide them to have a positive impact by incorporating sustainability into the core of their business strategies.
“Now more than ever Australia needs small businesses, and we have a real opportunity to build a more sustainable and inclusive economy than the one we left behind prior to COVID-19.
“I hope this report stimulates thought and action in small businesses across Australia,” Ms Van Egmond said.
Small business sustainability in a COVID-19 world, is part of a series of whitepapers by Australia Post to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The full report and more information about Australia Post’s approach to sustainability is available here.
About the Banksia Foundation:
The Banksia Foundation is a well-established not-for-profit organisation dedicated to working with Government, industry and community to focus attention on the recognition of excellence in sustainability.
The Banksia Sustainability awards are the world’s longest-running sustainability awards and seek to recognise individuals, communities, businesses and government for their innovation and excellence in environmental and social stewardship as embodied by the Sustainable Development Goals. The 2021 Banksia Awards will be held online on Wednesday 31 March 2021.
Source : https://newsroom.auspost.com.au/article
4. Posti and Sanoma agree long-term agreement on early-morning delivery, partnership supports lifecycle of printed media
January 28, 2021
Posti and Sanoma Media Finland have concluded a long-term extension agreement on the early-morning delivery of newspapers in the capital region. The agreement guarantees delivery of printed media in the capital region until the end of 2029. The home-delivered morning paper is an important and much-valued part of the Finnish media.
The agreement, effective until the end of 2029, guarantees the delivery of morning papers in the future and allows for mutual cooperation in the development of delivery. The primary objective of the agreement is to ensure that the cost development of the printed newspaper will remain sustainable, also in terms of delivery.
Early-morning delivery is an important part of the service regarding newspapers, as readers want to receive the newspaper at home during the early morning hours. Publishing houses and newspaper subscribers expect high-quality service from Posti. However, early-morning delivery costs must not become an obstacle to newspaper subscriptions.
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“Newspaper delivery is an important part of our business, and we want to support the extension of the lifecycle of the printed newspaper. The agreement we have now concluded demonstrates that Posti can carry out early-morning deliveries competitively, cost-effectively and with high quality. The agreement requires us to leverage the strengths of our delivery network in terms of both cost and sustainable development,” says Yrjö Eskola, SVP, Postal Services.
“Reading a printed newspaper at the breakfast table is really important for a huge number of Finns, and this is also the case for readers of Helsingin Sanomat in the capital region. The printed paper is still an important channel for advertisers as well. With this agreement, we have secured the delivery of our printed products and, in addition, we can develop delivery so that quality meets the needs of newspaper subscribers,” says Petteri Putkiranta, President, News & Feature at Sanoma Media Finland.
Posti’s early-morning delivery business has grown in recent years. Last year, Alma Media’s early-morning delivery operations in Pirkanmaa and Satakunta were transferred to Posti following an acquisition.
Currently, Posti carries out early-morning delivery in the capital region as well as in East Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Satakunta, South-Eastern Finland, South Savo, Central Finland, South Ostrobothnia and North Karelia. Posti’s early-morning delivery employs approximately 2,600 deliverers.
Source : https://www.posti.com/en/media/media-news/2021
5. UPS Announces Agreement to Sell UPS Freight to TFI International Inc.
January 25, 2021
UPS (NYSE: UPS), has entered into a definitive agreement to sell UPS Freight (UPSF) to TFI International Inc. (NYSE and TSX: TFII) for $800 million, subject to working capital and other adjustments.
“We’re excited about the future and the opportunities this creates for both UPS and UPS Freight as part of TFI International Inc.,” said UPS Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé. “The agreement allows UPS to be even more laser-focused on the core parts of our business that drive the greatest value for our customers.”
The decision to sell UPS Freight was reached following a thorough evaluation of the UPS portfolio, and aligns with the company’s “better not bigger” strategic positioning.
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UPS and TFI International will also enter into an agreement for UPS Freight to continue to utilize UPS’ domestic package network to fulfill shipments, for a period of five years.
The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to close during the second quarter of 2021. UPS expects to recognize a non-cash, pre-tax impairment charge of approximately $500 million on its statement of consolidated income for the year ended December 31, 2020.
With an operating history of over 85 years, UPS Freight is one of the largest LTL carriers in the U.S., offering a full range of regional and long-haul solutions and an on-time delivery guarantee for all LTL shipments and is headquartered in Richmond, VA.
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor, and King & Spalding LLP is serving as legal advisor to UPS.
A presentation providing more detail regarding the transaction will be posted to the UPS Investor Relations website.
Source : https://www.pressroom.ups.com/pressroom
No 8-2021
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1. Safer working agreement negotiated for Crown staff.
January 29, 2021.
2. IPC Interconnect network hits record parcel figures.
January 29, 2021.
3. PostNord relaunches PEX Bud. January 27, 2021.
4. Polish parcel locker operator InPost soars in Euronext Amsterdam debut. January 27, 2021.
5. Emirates Post Group: encouraging our employees to take the vaccine is our national responsibility. January 25, 2021.
1. Safer working agreement negotiated for Crown staff
January 29, 2021
The CWU has reached a new agreement with the employer revising post office opening hours in order to reduce risk of Covid-19 exposure.
With the key aim of keeping staff safe – while maintaining the highest standards of service to the public – these arrangements recognise the fantastic efforts of the whole workforce and meet the human and operational needs of this current period.
Assistant secretary Andy Furey says: “When the situation began to worsen again in the latter part of last year, we pressed the business to re-open the issue and have been in discussions with them to return to limited opening hours.
“This was agreed this week and, with immediate effect, the majority of Crowns will open at 9am and close at 4.30pm Monday to Friday.”
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The exception to this will be London branches, which will operate half an hour later at either end of the day, while on Saturdays, branches will open at 9am and those Crowns which currently continue into the afternoon will close at 2pm.
“This has been a data-led decision based upon weekly and hourly customer footfall and crucially takes account of feedback received,” explains Andy, adding: “Our members’ safety is paramount and we’re urging them to contact managers and union safety reps and highlight anything that may put colleagues at risk.”
This agreement will be under constant review in accordance with the overall situation across the UK.
CWU postal executive member Lynn Simpson, who played a major role in these negotiations, says that the agreement “is an important step in continuing to make sure that our frontline members can keep serving the public safely and lessen the risk to their health.
“Our members have done an amazing job over these past 10 months and this union will always prioritise their safety at work. It’s good that we’ve got this agreement and the hope is that this will help hard-working counter staff whilst protecting a vital community service.”
This agreement restores the principle of reduced hours that were put in place at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.
Source : https://www.cwu.org/news
2. IPC Interconnect network hits record parcel figures
January 29, 2021
The International Post Corporation (IPC) has revealed that 11.8 million tracked items were transported through its Interconnect network in November 2020, the first time since the launch of network, more than 10 million tracked items passed through in a single month. However, this record was quickly surpassed as December saw 15.6 million items.
The IPC notes this performance was partly driven by the increase in e-commerce volumes at the end of the year (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas period, etc.) and the overall growth of e-commerce during the 2020 pandemic.
With a total volume of 100 million items, 2020 marked an important milestone for the network with IPC noting the growth in parcel volumes was both structural and substantial. It also highlighted that an ever-increasing volume of traffic is being migrated from other postal networks to Interconnect. Furthermore, the number of cross-border posts-to-posts
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links in the network has increased from 1,981 in December 2019 to 3,216 in December 2020. With new posts likely to join in 2021, the growth is expected to continue.
Interconnect is an undertaking of 30 posts worldwide, which joined forces to offer e-retailers and consumers a reliable end-to-end cross-border postal delivery service, and a range of solutions that are crucial for the success of today’s e-commerce businesses. Through the network, participating posts are committed to receive and deliver items from each other according to jointly agreed competitive and customer-oriented standards and key performance indicators.
Source : https://www.parcelandpostaltechnologyinternational.com/news/delivery
3. PostNord relaunches PEX Bud
January 27, 2021
PostNord Bud takes back its old name. From mid-January, the PEX Bud brand will be relaunched, with a new look and a properly upgraded booking system.
After Posten Express, PEX changed its name to PostNord Bud just over 10 years ago, PostNord’s courier business became less visible on the market. Now the name PEX has been taken back and the bidding business will be strengthened. With the name and new profile, the relaunch means recognition for PostNord customers who need to quickly transport something from point A to point B.
From 13 January 2021, re-profiled delivery vans will gradually roll out on the market. Several services have also been renamed to make them easier to understand. There are both standardized and tailored solutions based on customers’ needs.
“The previous name change was perceived as if we did not remain, but that is not the case. We see a rapid development in the bidding market and the improvements will make a big difference for our customers.
PostNord makes deliveries all over Sweden, every day and therefore it feels gratifying to be able to strengthen our offer also in courier deliveries”, said Peter Hesslin, Head of e-commerce and Logistics at PostNord Sweden.
“We have previously been very manual in our booking procedure where you called or emailed in your orders. We have had a good business and now we are supplementing with a booking system that is suitable for the 2020s. Today’s buyers of courier services are largely digital and handle all their logistics via the web. It is clear that we must have a new, modern booking system”, continued Hesslin.
Source: https://www.ti-insight.com/
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4. Polish parcel locker operator InPost soars in Euronext Amsterdam debut
January 27, 2021
Shares in Polish parcel locker operator InPost jumped 19% on the company’s debut on Euronext Amsterdam on January 27, demonstrating investors’ interest in businesses that manage to thrive during the global pandemic.
InPost’s IPO in Amsterdam priced the company's shares at €16, valuing the company at €8bn, and the rise in the shares pushed the valuation up to €9.5bn.
InPost’s offering consisted of a €2.8bn private placement of existing shares to institutional investors, some of which – Black Rock, Capital World Investors, and GIC - went in early to buy just over €1bn worth of shares. The private placement represents 35% of the company's shares.
It also is a harbinger of good times for e-commerce and related services in the post-pandemic economy, which is expected to shift some consumer and work habits online for good. The interest in the offering proved so big that InPost decided to bring forward the subscription deadline and launch on Euronext Amsterdam on January 27 instead of the originally planned date in February.
E-commerce and logistic services have been in huge demand in Poland and across Europe since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic shifted much of consumer activity online, with purchase deliveries to parcel lockers like InPost’s.
Nearly a fifth of December turnover in the textiles, clothing and shoes category was from online shopping, Poland’s statistical office GUS said last week. That is still a drop from 35.4% in November.
Similarly, significant portions of consumer spending in the domestic appliances and books categories was online shopping. Most online retailers offer InPost's parcel lockers as a delivery option.
InPost’s parcel lockers – which can be operated basically in a contactless way via a phone app – are a common sight in Poland. The company operated 12,254 of them at the end of last year.
The company’s share of the domestic B2C [business to consumer] delivery parcel volume in Poland more than doubled from 21% in 2017 to 43% last year. The company’s revenue doubled y/y to PLN1.67bn (€377mn) as of the third quarter.
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In 2007-2017 InPost and its holding company, Integer, were listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, although its core business centred on actual postal deliveries in direct competition to the state-owned operator Poczta Polska.
The company lost a PLN3bn tender to become Poland’s designated postal operator, however, in 2015 and its WSE debut, while initially promising, quickly showed weak fundamentals of the company, which was then only beginning to roll out its parcel locker operations on a bigger scale. Eventually, Integer and InPost were delisted. Additionally, the company received much bad coverage in the media after it sold a subsidiary, which owed employees wages, to an external entity, which not only never paid arrears to people but laid them off.
The Amsterdam IPO sold shares from existing shareholders – Advent International, Templeton, and an investment fund of Polish insuror PZU.
The company’s founder, Rafal Brzoska, owns 13% of InPost, although only 1% directly, with the rest held by a Malta-registered company A&R, which in turn is majority-owned by a Liechtenstein-based foundation controlled by Brzoska.
At the company’s current valuation, Brzoska is probably Poland’s seventh-richest person, worth some PLN5.7bn, Business Insider Polska estimated.
The IPO's global co-ordinators were Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Source : https://www.intellinews.com/
5. Emirates Post Group: encouraging our employees to take the vaccine is our national responsibility
January 25, 2021
In line with the UAE government’s drive to inoculate all residents against the COVID-19 virus, Emirates Post Group launched a vaccination programme on Friday, providing the vaccine to its employees across the emirates.
H.E Abdulla M. Alashram, Group CEO of Emirates Post Group Company said: “Emirates Post Group is committed to serving the UAE while taking the necessary measures to keep our employees, customers, and our communities safe. Their health and safety is our main priority. As a vital sector, encouraging our employees to take the vaccine is our national responsibility.
“Although the choice to vaccinate is optional, the response has been very high amongst our team members. With priority given to our front-line workforce, we hope that with our
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in-house vaccination programme, we have made it easier for all to access,” Alashram continued.
The company is working closely with the health authorities to safeguard the health and wellbeing of its workforce, to roll out the vaccine, and limit the spread of the virus.
Source : https://postandparcel.info/132158/news/post