Post Office Ltd to offer £20m fund for rural offices

The British retail company, Post Office Ltd, has said it will invest £20 million in a bid to support its chain of branches, particularly those located in rural, remote areas of the UK. The company currently oversees the running of 11,800 post offices throughout the UK, with 3,400 of the branches being situated in places where the post office itself is considered the only shop in the community.

Post Office Ltd has said these said community branches of their company were "critical" in regards to traditional banks in minimising the size of its physical retail networks within the UK due to their ability to provide access to bank accounts, in addition to features such as postal products and services.

The newly introduced Community Branch Fund is to be provided, drawn from the £640 million the government originally allocated to Post Office Ltd in November of last year. The company has said every community branch will be able to apply for the fund, with the investment to be allocated on an individual basis.

Post Office Ltd Chief Executive, Paula Vennells, has commented that the Community Branch Fund is part of a "powerful public purpose" of the business. Vennells also said: "The Community Branch Fund demonstrates our commitment to our customers. Where many organisations are withdrawing from communities we are staying put, supporting all our customers wherever they are."

Cheap Parcel Delivery with Discount Courier Services

Have you ever tried to use a courier service? 

Courier companies offer cheap parcel delivery which may often beat the rates you get from the Post Office.

How does it work?

Anyone can take advantage of these cheap rates. You do not necessarily have to be internet-savvy in order to book a cheap parcel delivery service online.

Most discount courier services have easily accessible sites with straight forward instructions guiding through the booking process.

Simply enter your parcels measurements and weight into the quotation tool and start comparing the different carriers and their services.

Where do courier companies get their discounts from?

Well-known global carriers such as DHL, UPS, TNT or FedEx make their money through regular incoming orders but are often limited to providing discounts for business and private customers.

This is where discount courier services come in.

Independent couriers have got dedicated customer service and sales staff who can negotiate highly reduced rates for business and private customers. They will act as “middlemen” and buy postage slots from big carriers and then sell them to their customers.

This way, customers can benefit from cheap parcel delivery and carriers can grow their order volume. 

TNT Post UK scores major deal with NHS’ PRO-CURE agency

TNT Post UK has scored a two-year contract with PRO-CURE, an NHS service agency and its two partners, NHS Commercial Solutions and East of England.

300,000 GBP postal savings are expected from the new partnership with TNT UK which promised to eliminate the use of traditional franking machines. By offering letter prices of less than 26.8 pence per letter for transit times of two days (max.), TNT Post is outperforming its biggest competitor, Royal Mail.

“More than ever before, public savings are paramount”, said TNT Post UK CEO, Nick Wells. 

In fact, Royal Mail has announced a rate increase, i.e. 50p for Second Class and 60 for First Class letters.

“The NHS is under enormous pressure to make efficiency savings and we are really pleased that with TNT Post we have secured cash savings on postal collection services at a time of escalating prices”, confirmed Lee Collins, managing director of PRO-CURE.

TNT UK’s new postal service was launched for PRO-CURE trusts in Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Buckinghamshire at the beginning of June 2012.

Sources: Post&Parcel/PRO-CURE/TNT Post UK