Abstract
Electronic communications impact all of postal operators’ businesses. Traditional letter mail can be substituted by various electronic means, whereas quality parcels services are of essence for online shops bypassing the traditional retail channels. Table 1 illustrates the development of letter mail and parcels volumes for selected postal incumbent operators.
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- 1.
Operating EBIT of $337.5 million in 2014 (up 20.8 %) and revenue growth of 16.4 %.
- 2.
The Digital Mailbox is an online platform that gives businesses and government agencies a secure way to connect to their customers, who can use it as a mobile payment and storage solution to receive and pay bills, as well as to archive important documents.
- 3.
In October 2012, Australia Post acquired Qantas’ 50 % interest in StarTrack, making Australia Post the sole shareholder in StarTrack.
- 4.
- 5.
The support to Kiwibank reveals as logic, given the significant financial contributions of Kiwibank to the New Zealand Post. Kiwibank has been focusing on the provision of high levels of service through a wide branch network and high innovation levels for internet and mobile banking. By June 30th 2014, the segment earnings before income tax reached the first position within the group, contributing NZD 139M. The success of Kiwibank is based on the accessibility it offers to its clients by leveraging its existing branch network, the long opening hours and a high focus on innovation. In its aim to provide innovative solutions to its clients, Kiwibank was the first bank in introducing real-time mobile phone banking, beating the world’s biggest banks to win the international 2007 Financial Innovation Award. The heritage of this innovation is appreciated in its service today with initiatives like “Fetch” to fasten the withdraw speed.
- 6.
Ministerial Decree of 07 October 2008 and AGCOM Decision 342/14/CONS.
- 7.
The case of Poste Vita is of special interest, since in only 10 years since its creation in 1999, it became the first insurance company of the country in terms of premiums. The focus of Poste Vita is to manage the “new welfare” model that has emerged after the economic crisis. The “new welfare” model is driven by a growing demand to cut public expenditures. Since often, these cuts let parts of the society «unprotected» in terms of health-, self-sufficiency-, savings-, and asset-protection, Postevita focuses on these segments to fulfill their needs and explode this market niche.
- 8.
Securing the Universal Postal Service, decision on the new regulatory framework, Ofcom, 27 March 2012, § 5.41, p. 50.
- 9.
The facilities to fulfill the USO are provided and owned by Post Office Ltd., as stated in a 10-year inter-business commercial agreement that allows Post Office Ltd. to continue issuing stamps and handling letters and parcels for Royal Mail. Post Office Ltd. and Royal Mail Group Ltd. are sister companies, since both are part of Royal Mail Holdings Ltd.
- 10.
The price of a first-class stamp for a standard letter in 2002 was of 27 pennies, whereas by the year 2015 the same stamp would cost 63 pennies. A similar pattern is to be observed in the prices of the second-class stamp for standard letters that cost 19 pennies in 2002 and 53 pennies as of March 2015.
- 11.
“YellowCube” is an all-in logistics solution for distance selling made for online vendors. With this service, Swiss Post takes care of storage, picking and packing, fast shipping and return management, so that vendors can fully outsource their warehouse, shipping, and packaging duties.
- 12.
For example, better integrate information technologies to equip OIG staff with responsive, mobile tools, enabling them to work on a variety of devices anywhere, anytime, thereby increasing operational efficiencies and improving the effectiveness of OIG operations.
- 13.
For example, further modernize OIG’s capability to synthesize data and information on postal operations and turn it into useable knowledge and insight to identify the root causes and solutions for weaknesses in postal operations.
- 14.
For example, track social, technological, and industry trends capturing patterns of human interaction, how businesses are organized and how transactions take place.
- 15.
For example, help the Postal Service to self-police employee misconduct by sharing insights from employee misconduct cases.
- 16.
For example, strengthen internal controls on postal systems.
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Jaag, C., Moyano, J.P., Trinkner, U. (2016). Postal Strategies in a Digital Age. In: Crew, M., Brennan, T. (eds) The Future of the Postal Sector in a Digital World. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24454-9_8
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