POSTAL NEWS
No 27-2020
Formulated by UNI AproPost and Logistics Sector
1. Safeguarding health whilst minimising postal disruption. April 02, 2020.
2.
Posti is prepared for the spread of the coronavirus .April 01,
2020.
3. Aust Post Pharmacy Home Delivery announcement a welcome move: Union. March 28, 2020.
4.
NZ Post
asks all New Zealanders to please strictly respect the 2 metre rule with
posties and couriers. March 27 , 2020.
5.
U-Freight: Innovative thinking is key to keep supply
chains moving.March 27,
2020.
|
1. Safeguarding health whilst minimising postal disruption
April 02, 2020
From providing households with hand sanitiser to arranging free
accommodation for Malaysian staff during lockdown, Post & Parcel spoke to a
spokesperson from SingPost to learn more about the
company’s short and long term strategies for dealing with the coronavirus
crisis.
“ In addition to
the global disruption to supply lines and operations experienced by postal and
last-mile operators worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has directly impacted
SingPost in two major areas:
“Firstly Malaysia’s
nationwide Restriction of Movement order to stem the Covid-19 spread in
their country has had an adverse impact on postal operations, as our Malaysian
team mates constitute 20% of our postal service workers. Over 80% of them chose
to stay in Singapore during the lockdown, and SingPost is providing them free
accommodation in three hotels, as well as disbursing a one-off special
allowance and a daily food allowance to help them tide over this difficult
period. We are very grateful to our Malaysian team mates for choosing to
continue working during these challenging times, and applaud their resilience
and esprit de corps.
“Secondly some
members of our mail processing team contracted Covid-19, and were immediately
hospitalised for treatment. Contact-tracing, quarantine and disinfection
measures were activated and SingPost worked closely with the government and
relevant authorities to prevent further transmission of the coronavirus. The
affected floor was immediately shut down for deep-cleaning, but the impact on
operations was thankfully minimal as it was the weekend and the floor was not
accessible to public. Normal operations resumed after a thorough disinfection
of the premises lasting two days. We are providing full support to staff who
are recovering from Covid-19 as well as those on quarantine, and have put
in place strict business continuity plans to safeguard the health and
well-being of everyone in SingPost.
Short and long term strategy
” Safeguarding the
health and well-being of our staff and members of the public, as well as
ensuring minimal disruption to mail deliveries remain our foremost priorities.
In the short term, we have implemented strict business continuity plans
entailing working from home, segregation of teams, temperature takings, donning
of personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves,
video/tele-conferencing instead of physical meetings etc. Frontliners have been
advised to take the necessary precautions when undertaking their duties e.g.
temperature-taking at least twice daily, frequent washing and sanitization of
hands, wearing masks, ensuring a controlled number of customers within our post
officers, ensuring social distancing, amongst others. Many of these practices
will likely persist in some form even after the pandemic has run its course, as
awareness about hygiene and health will likely be heightened in the years
following the outbreak.
Reaching out to the local community
“As Singapore’s
national postal operator, SingPost is doing our part to contribute to the
national fight against Covid-19. A landmark programme we are participating in
is #BYOBclean, an initiative spearheaded by Temasek Foundation, a philanthropic
agency under state investment company Temasek Holdings. #BYOBclean is a
national initiative which provides every household 500ml of hand sanitizer, and
we distributed redemption pamphlets to the letterbox of every home in Singapore
for free. Our shopping mall SingPost Centre is also a collection centre for
members of the public to redeem their hand sanitisers.
2. Posti is prepared for the spread of the coronavirus
April 01, 2020
Posti is prepared for different kinds of exceptional
circumstances and has raised its current level of preparedness because of the
coronavirus.
Posti acts according to the instructions provided by Finnish
government officials (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL and the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health) and protects the health of its personnel
and customers according to these instructions.
For the security of supply, socially critical and important
items are always delivered first. These include the items related to general
safety, such as deliveries of blood and laboratory samples, official
announcements as well as other services specified by government
officials. Posti plays a major role in maintaining the security of supply.
Updated information, April 2
In Greater Helsinki, a larger than anticipated number of
parcels have to be redirected to a pickup point other than the nearest pickup
point. The new available pickup point is as close to the original pickup point
as possible. For information regarding the exceptions pertaining to parcels,
please see our website.
Freight, newspaper, magazine and letter services are working
normally.
Despite border closures, goods are still moving into and out
of Finland, but they are partly transported via exceptional routes and may
subsequently be subject to delays. Even though the situation in different
countries may change rapidly, Posti will find an alternative route as quickly
as possible.
When it comes to letter and parcel items, there are a few
exceptions regarding some countries. You can find up to date, country-specific
information regarding the delivery of letter and parcel items on our website.
Posti has been forced to close some of its service points and
mailboxes because the premises that they are located on are closed due to the
coronavirus. You can find a list of currently unavailable service points on
our website.
Updated information, April 1
So far, the restrictions on movement in the Uusimaa region
have had no effect on Posti’s services. As a result of the traffic checkpoints,
time has been added to the schedules where possible. In terms of the isolation
of Uusimaa, freight traffic has priority.
Freight services are currently operating normally.
Check the website for Frequently
asked questions about the coronavirus.
Parcels are being delivered normally, although slight delays
may occur for a small number of parcels. For information regarding the
exceptions pertaining to parcels, please see our website.
Newspaper, magazine and letter services are currently working
normally.
Despite border closures, goods are still moving into and out
of Finland, but they are partly transported via exceptional routes and may
subsequently be subject to delays. When it comes to letter and parcel items, there
are a few exceptions regarding some countries. You can find up to date,
country-specific information regarding the delivery of letter and parcel items
on our website.
Posti has been forced to close some of its service points and
mailboxes because the premises that they are located on are closed due to the
coronavirus. You can find a list of currently unavailable service points on
our website.
Sourchttps://www.posti.com/en/media/media-news/2020e :
3. Aust Post Pharmacy Home Delivery announcement a welcome move: Union
March 28, 2020
Australia Post’s announcement today that it will launch its Pharmacy Home Delivery Service is great news for both workers and the community, the CEPU – the union representing Australia Post workers – said today.
Australia Post’s announcement today comes after the Federal Government agreed to allocate $25 million to fund home delivering medicine during the COVID-19 crisis.
CEPU Communications Union National President, Shane Murphy, said the union has been in constant discussions with Australia Post to ensure that everything possible is being done by the company to not only support its dedicated workforce, but also to ensure Post’s services are used to support the community at large.
“Australia Post workers have always been ready to do whatever it takes to help Australians through this crisis,” Mr Murphy said.
“Australia Post is in a unique position to be able to offer vital services, like the home delivery of pharmacy products, to Australians. It’s great that workers will now be able to provide this important service to the most vulnerable members of our community.
“Australia Post workers have remained stoic and dedicated through recent times. The community spirit displayed by workers has been second to none.
“Australia Post workers are already playing a vital role during this crisis. This move to allow them to also deliver import pharmacy products will allow our workforce to do even more to keep our community safe.
Mr Murphy said the union has been working closely with Australia Post management to ensure that everything possible is also being done to keep workers themselves safe.
“We’re in constant contact with Australia Post to make sure that as things change, the safety of our Australia Post workers remains a top priority.
Source: http://www.cepu.org/2020/03/28
4. NZ Post asks all New Zealanders to please strictly respect the 2 metre rule with posties and couriers
March 27, 2020
As an essential service for New Zealanders,
NZ Post's first priority during the level 4 lockdown is the health, safety,
support and wellbeing of our people.
NZ Post Chief Executive, David Walsh says,
“One issue that has come to the foreground in the last 48 hours is reports of
members of the public closely approaching NZ Post delivery people – our
posties, rural delivery people and couriers – and in some instances, attempting
to make physical contact such as patting them on the back.”
“Whilst we greatly appreciate the intent, NZ
Post asks all members of the public to strictly respect the 2 metre bubble rule
for our delivery people – including couriers and posties. Our people’s health
and safety is our number one priority, and if this is compromised, our delivery
service of essential items to New Zealanders’ homes will not be able to
continue.
“Please – do not make any physical contact of
any kind with your courier or postie. While we know you’re grateful to your
delivery person, it is absolutely imperative that all members of the public
respect this rule. We can’t have the safety of our people compromised. We do
encourage you however to call out your thanks and words of encouragement to our
people as they are out and about continuing to keep New Zealand running,” says
David Walsh.
“NZ Post wants to thank every one of our team
who are providing services to New Zealanders at this time and reassure people
that our health and safety measures for COVID-19 will be constantly reviewed
and updated as necessary.”
Since the start of this event approximately
nine weeks ago, we have adopted a range of practices and measures to keep our
people safe. We have been reviewing COVID-19 information from a wide range of
sources and keeping on top of the latest advice relating to the virus, how it
spreads and how to control it. We have engaged an Occupational Physician, who
is also advising us and providing additional support over and above what is
available from the Ministry of Health.
We are following all Government advice. This
includes changing the way we deliver items and observing strict physical
distancing of two metres, for both our delivery people, and in our operational
sites. We have also implemented new processes around shifts and tea
breaks, to ensure effective physical distancing in our mail and parcel
processing sites. Our cleaning services are essential for us.
We have put in place extra measures to ensure
that every site is cleaned every day – including real time updates for when
each of our 200+ sites have been cleaned.
This is a unique situation and we acknowledge
that there may be a short learning curve as we all adapt to this new way of
working.
We will also be continuously providing our
people with hand sanitisers and wipes, but as our network includes over 200
operational sites, we do acknowledge that there may be delays in restocking
these. We are issuing further instructions to our teams as to what effective
substitutes they should use in these instances.
“This is an unprecedented situation, and we
are committing to continuing to work as hard as we can to make sure all of our
people feel safe, and know what we are doing to protect them."
“The safety of our people is our priority, at
any time, but ever-more so now. We’re really proud to be providing a vital
service to New Zealand at this time, delivering those essential items that New
Zealanders need,” says David Walsh.
5. U-Freight: Innovative thinking is key to keep supply chains moving
March
27, 2020
Hong
Kong-based freight forwarder U-Freight has said that “innovative thinking” is
crucial in dealing with the difficulties faced by supply chains during the
coronavirus pandemic.
U-Freight
also informed that it is running its global operations “as normally as
possible” as it seeks innovative solutions to help it overcome the challenges
that have arisen as a result of the outbreak.
The
freight forwarder explained that although there is a capacity shortage due to
significantly low demand in passenger flights as a result of Covid-19,
freighter and passenger airline capacity is adjusting to the new market
reality.
U-Freight
has said it is encouraged by the strong likelihood of China getting close to
full production by the end of March. It has also seen an increase in the number
of freighter flights in the market, which are helping to ease the outbound
China capacity strain.
Simon
Wong, chief executive of U-Freight Group, commented: “All of our global offices
are acting in accordance with advice being provided by their respective local
authorities, with an increasing number of staff operating from home within the
scope of our business continuity plans.
“Given
the fact that the regional restrictions and freight capacity are out of our
control, now is the time for the innovative thinking that has characterised
U-Freight’s 50 year history.
“We
were the first freight forwarder to offer track and trace via the internet; one
of first overseas foreign freight and logistics companies to gain an A-class
operator’s licence in China. We were also one of the first to spot the
opportunities stemming from the e-commerce revolution and are now a logistics
partner of choice for the growing number of online channels and platforms which
entrepreneurs are using to sell their own designs and products, including
global eCommerce shipping platforms such as Easyship. We are also heavily
involved in the Fulfillment by Amazon programme in several countries.
“Just
last week we saw an example of that innovation. When air cargo capacity fell
dramatically, we immediately arranged a charter flight on one of our most
important trade lanes from Hong Kong to Manila, accommodating urgent shipments
for our important customers, which arrived in Manila before the city went into
lockdown.
“Customers
who have specific questions in regards to the management of their cargo flows
should contact their usual U-Freight representative, who will keep them informed
of our specific plans in terms of operational continuity and ad hoc capacities
being deployed to cater for the changing requirements.”
POSTAL NEWS
No 28-2020
Formulated by UNI AproPost and Logistics Sector
|
2. Switching
into crisis management. April
01, 2020.
3. Omniva temporarily distributes parcels from courier
vans near popular parcel machines. March 31, 2020.
4. Press distribution and agents' health: La Poste must hear us!March 31, 2020.5. UPS and Wingcopter develop drones. March 27, 2020. |
1. Royal Mail ‘cuts unaddressed mail deliveries to homes’
Royal Mail has reportedly made a key concession
to postal workers by allowing them to cut back on unaddressed mail, insisting
they only have to deliver items to households that are already receiving
letters or parcels.
Earlier this week,
the Communications Workers Union, which represents 110,000 posties, demanded the immediate suspension of all unaddressed mail deliveries
and the slashing of daily deliveries of standard letters and parcels to three
times a week.
It argued that
posties should only be used to help the country during the Covid-19 crisis,
including checking on the elderly and vulnerable, and collecting and delivering
food parcels, as well as medical prescriptions and equipment.
The news comes after
posties at three Scottish sorting offices walked out over serious health and
safety issues.
One Alloa-based
worker told the Daily Record: “We’re returning to
work under duress. The management are doing their best to keep things safe and
we’ll see how it holds up. We still believe that delivering even one piece of
junk mail is an unnecessary risk not only to ourselves but to the most
vulnerable people in our communities.”
In a statement, the
CWU said the measures did not go far enough. It added: “The response from the
chief executive and from the senior management team is totally unacceptable. We
will now take these matters up directly with the Government, the TUC and our
legal representatives. The union’s executive will meet to discuss further
actions.”
Royal Mail responded
by insisting that door to door mailings were an important way of paying for the
Universal Service and supporting the delivery of all mail.
A spokesperson added:
“Door to door mailings provide a very valuable service to small businesses and
companies of all kinds as they seek to provide their goods and services. Many
small businesses now need this support more than ever as they struggle to stay
afloat in the midst of the lockdown.
“This means they can
safeguard local jobs as well as the local economy. In the lockdown, many families
are increasingly keen to access local services and food companies. The
Government is also delivering important public messages about coronavirus via
door-to-door mailings.
“It is expensive to
maintain as the number of letters we handle continues to decline every year. We
are currently doing this in difficult circumstances.”
UPDATE: In response to this story, Letterbox
Consultancy managing director Graham Dodd wrote on LinkedIn: “This claim about
Royal Mail procedures is fake news. Their actions are consistent with the
communication sent to resellers such as ourselves on Monday of this week. All
households WILL be covered on EVERY walk whether they have addressed mail or
not, unless they have opted out.”
Meanwhile, Eight Days
a Week Print Solutions managing director Lance Hill added: “In other words it’s
BAU for addressed and unaddressed mail. Not really a story, other than the
usual CWU attempts at disrupting the postal service at a time when we should
all be on the same side.”
In a statement, Royal
Mail was slightly less clear. It said: “We have changed our processes. We
will now deliver unaddressed, door to door advertising mailings to customers
who are receiving addressed letters or parcels at the same time, wherever
practically possible.”
It did not confirm or
deny whether households would be missed out if they had no “regular” mail on
that day.
2. Switching into crisis management
April01, 2020
Peter Somers, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Post, shares his experiences and
advice on dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
“Just four months ago
it would have seemed impossible that such a pandemic could arise in our current
zeitgeist and would disrupt just about the entire system upon which our society
is built, especially economically. Across the world hundreds of thousands of
people are sick, dying and leaving family and friends in unthinkable pain and
sorrow.
This crisis is unseen
and unique in its kind.
Covid-19 asks for exceptional and responsible leadership
This crisis requires
exceptional leadership in all areas, even in the Middle East where decisions
are made and respected a little differently.
I have been working
here as CEO of Emirates Post for five months now and I already have some
insight into the intercultural differences, but this no longer applies in times
of crisis.
We switch into crisis
management modus and our management team makes hard and clear decisions every
day at a brisk pace and these are carried out without blink. Empowerment is no
longer a buzz word.
Communication is paramount
Making decisions
quickly and accurately is only possible with sufficient explanation. Internal
and external communication, particularly on social media is extremely important
in these times and every day you have to inform the thousands of employees
about the risks, the solutions we offer, the changes we make to our way of
working and the service to our customers and the country. It is also important
to thank staff who work in the frontline appropriately, internally, externally
and thus also on social media.
Offer security to your staff and customers
The specificity of
this virus is its extreme transmissibility. How do you deal with this in a
postal company where we have thousands of visitors in our post offices and do
thousands of daily home deliveries. We were one of the first postal companies
to successfully introduce contactless delivery. We also quickly started
disinfecting all our buildings, post-offices, vehicles and providing our people
with masks and gloves. We have also introduced thermal scanning for all
employees who enter our sorting centres and are now rolling this out in our
post offices to measure the temperature of our customers. Despite everything,
the fear of infection remains. Framing this is not easy and will stay a
challenge in the next coming days and weeks.
Support the community
In these times of crisis and serving a company with a social role it is important to take measures in the interest of society and the country. So I quickly decided to deliver mail and parcels free of charge to senior citizens and people of determination. A measure that is valued both externally and internally.
Every challenge has an opportunity
Emirates Post received a lot
of criticism on its retail operations last year, in the meantime many measures
have been taken to improve the service and especially in the field of parcel
deliveries, we provide a top service. This crisis is an ideal time to show our
strengths to the market and improve the reputation of the company. We already
see an influx of new customers and volumes as a result.
Conclusion
Tackling this crisis within the business environment is no
different here in the Middle East. It comes down to leadership, empowerment,
communication, common sense and extremely hard work! Leaders should now be
exceedingly human, persistent and creative.”
About Peter Somers
Peter Somers is CEO of Emirates Post, the UAE postal
provider and has been appointed in October 2019 to transform the company from
Government to Private focusing on the fast-growing e-commerce parcel delivery
in the country and internationally.
·
Peter
Somers is a strategic executive and entrepreneur in the Postal & Logistics
industry. He is founder of the e-Commerce logistics company SprintPack and
co-founder of SKS & Partners, a network of E-Commerce Logistic consultants.
·
He
was member of the Executive Committee of bpost, the Belgian Postal Operator,
till July 2014 and was CEO of bpost Parcels & International, a rapidly
growing business unit with over Euro 475 Mio revenues and employing close to
1.000 people, covering bpost domestic parcels, international parcels and mail
activities in Europe, the Americas and Asia.
·
He
possesses more than 25 years of experience resulting from executive positions
in leading distribution, E-commerce logistics and postal companies and in-depth
expertise in designing and implementing distribution systems, new market entry,
M&A, business development and innovation. Peter demonstrates excellent
interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills and the ability to develop
beneficial internal and external relationships. He enjoys managing and
motivating teams to become successful and productive and thrives in highly
challenging working environments. He also is a frequent presenter across the
world in postal, transport and retail conferences.
3. Omniva temporarily distributes parcels from courier vans near popular parcel machines
March 31,2020
Due to
extraordinarily large parcel volumes in the machines, Omniva is temporarily
distributing parcels from courier vans today at the Viimsi Shopping Centre and
Laagri Comarket car parks. In future, such temporary solutions may pop up near
other popular parcel machines as well.
Clients whose parcel
is directed to the temporary distribution point will receive a text message.
The parcel is handed over contact-free by the Omniva courier next to the parcel
machine. If this manner of receiving the parcel is unsuitable for the client,
the parcel will be stored in a parcel machine in a few days.
The reason for
establishing the temporary manned "parcel machines" is to deliver the
parcels to the clients as fast as possible, regardless of the unusually large
volume. Omniva is observing the situation daily and is ready to implement
additional measures to ensure that the growing parcel volumes are delivered to
the clients without lowering the service standard.
The parcel is delivered contact-free
To receive the
parcel, tell the courier the first and last name of the recipient. If
necessary, the courier will ask for the parcel tracking number or the
recipient’s telephone number. If the parcel needs to be paid for, the courier
will set the payment terminal on the table.
Once the courier has
stepped away, the client can access the table and make the payment. When all
the necessary operations are done, the courier will set the parcel on the table
and the client can pick it up.
Omniva also asks that
at this time with the increasing parcel volumes, clients pick up their parcels
as soon as possible. This way we can quickly deliver the parcels of other
people as well.
Due to the increased
volumes both at the parcel machines and the post offices, it is temporarily
impossible to reroute parcels to other post offices or to a parcel machine.
Parcels can be picked up only from the location provided on the parcel notice.
Source : https://www.omniva.ee/
4. Press distribution and agents' health: La Poste must hear us!
Many agents are subject to arrests and incivility regarding the
lack of press distribution on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. But whose
fault is it?
As of March 17, FO Com proposed to management that the officers
work on a rotational basis every other day.
Indeed, this organization is better able to guarantee
health. It makes it possible to avoid daily trips, to make possible the
space of a minimum of one meter between postal workers, disinfection and
cleaning of unoccupied positions and finally to arrange rest times in this
extremely anxiety-provoking period. Moreover, at the outset, many
distribution centers worked on an organization of this type that met these
criteria for protecting postal workers while ensuring selective but regular
distribution of mail. The distribution of the press, which is an integral
part of public service missions, could thus be ensured. Unfortunately FO
Com was not heard.
Today, the organization set up unilaterally by La Poste provides
for distribution 3 days a week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) and does not
respond to the safety of agents or to public service missions.
La Poste demonstrates that it once again puts the economy before
the protection of its agents and public service missions.
For FO Com, only one claim: to ensure public
service missions in complete safety and this, for all postal workers by working
every other day in distribution.
5. UPS and Wingcopter develop drones
March 27, 2020
UPS Flight Forward is
collaborating with Wingcopter to develop the next generation of delivery drones
for US and international services.
The delivery company’s drone subsidiary chose the
German-built Wingcopter for its unmanned technology and track record in
delivering goods over long distances.
Both companies will work toward earning regulatory
certification for a Wingcopter to make commercial delivery flights in the USA.
Bala Ganesh, vice president of the UPS Advanced Technology
Group, said, “Our collaboration with Wingcopter helps pave the way for us to
start drone delivery service in new use-cases. UPS Flight Forward is building a
network of technology partners to broaden our unique capability to serve
customers and extend our leadership in drone delivery.”
Tom Pluemmer, CEO and co-founder of Wingcopter, said, “Our
vision has always been to leverage technology to improve the lives of people
around the world, and the strategic relationship with UPS will further
accelerate our growth and global expansion, strengthening our role as an
industry leader in drone technology.”
The Wingcopter can make vertical take-offs and landings in
tight spaces, and UPS hopes it will move deliveries beyond the healthcare and
retail sectors to the high-tech, manufacturing, hospitality, entertainment and
other industries.
Wingcopter has already provided beyond visual line of sight
(BVLOS) flights for projects including medical deliveries to remote islands.
Among the projects were insulin deliveries to an Irish
island frequently cut off by bad weather in the North Sea, and transporting
vaccines on the South Sea island of Vanuatu.