http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10048014
Deutsche Post 2010 Outlook Misses Estimates – ABC News
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Post DHL unveiled a conservative financial strategy that focuses on saving cash to safeguard its credit rating and gave a …
Industry: Delivery
Most Admired
| Rank | Company | Overall score |
| 1 | UPS | 8.20 |
| 2 | FedEx | 7.26 |
| 3 | TNT | 5.96 |
| 4 | Deutsche Post (DHL) | 5.17 |
| 5 | Poste Italiane | 4.56 |
Fortune magazine has ranked FedEx Corp. among the top 20 most admired companies in the world for the 10th consecutive year.
The Memphis-based shipping giant was listed at No. 13, according to the publication’s latest survey.
Fortune cited the ability of FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to manage costs while maintaining service levels during the economic downturn, and increased demand in international business, especially in Asia and Latin America, as enhancing the corporation’s overall reputation for reliable deliveries.
“Although FedEx has been ranked a Fortune most admired company in the past, this year’s honor is especially meaningful,” Fred Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of FedEx, said in a statement. “Our being ranked again among the top 20 most admired global companies during such a challenging year is mainly due to the sacrifice, hard work and commitment of our 275,000 team members throughout the world.”
ATLANTA, Mar 04, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — UPS /quotes/comstock/13*!ups/quotes/nls/ups (UPS 58.90, -0.30, -0.51%) today was rated the “World’s Most Admired” company in its industry in an annual survey conducted by FORTUNE magazine. The company also was ranked among the Top 50 in brand recognition across all industries around the world.
UPS posted the highest average industry ranking of any company around the globe. Its industry score was 8.20 on a 10-point scale. Only three other companies scored an 8.0 or better.
UPS dominated the scoring for all airline, railroad, trucking and logistics companies ranking No. 1 in its industry on all nine of the attributes used for judging.
UPS was also ranked in the Top 10 among all companies in the world on eight of the nine key attributes. It scored No. 1 in the world for its commitment to “social responsibility;” No. 2 in the world for “management quality;” No. 3 in the world for “people management,” “use of corporate assets” and “quality of products & services;” No. 6 in the world for “global competitiveness;” No. 7 in the world for “financial soundness,” and No. 9 in the world for “innovation.”
UPS, which has built one of the world’s best known brands, operates in more than 200 countries and territories around the world and has been widely recognized in recent years for its expanding role in enabling global commerce. UPS has been ranked No. 1 in its industry in 25 of the 29 “Most Admired” surveys conducted by FORTUNE.
The complete rankings will appear in the March 22nd issue of FORTUNE. To compile its list of America’s most admired companies, FORTUNE worked with the Hay Group consultancy to poll senior executives, directors and analysts.
UPS /quotes/comstock/13*!ups/quotes/nls/ups (UPS 58.90, -0.30, -0.51%) is the world’s largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. With more than a century of experience in transportation and logistics, UPS is a leading global trade expert equipped with a broad portfolio of solutions. The company can be found on the Web at UPS.com and its corporate blog can be found at www.blog.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.
Mail Groups Can Live With Delivery Cutback
Feb 21, 2010 3:55 PM, By Larry Riggs
Given the dire state of U.S. Postal Service finances and the possibility of insolvency, mailer groups were open to the idea of eliminating Saturday mail delivery if it could truly cut expenses.
But doing so would require an act of Congress and nobody expected that to happen during an election year. The earliest they see anything happening is 2011.
According to news reports, the USPS said it could go broke if Congress does not give the green light on five-day delivery and change the way it funds retiree healthcare benefits.
Cutting a delivery day would reportedly save the USPS $3 billion a year in expenses. On top of that, the USPS is required every year to pre-pay $5.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury to cover healthcare costs of retired employees until 2016.
“There is a lot of resistance to the idea on Capitol Hill,” said Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce. The postal service is going to have quite a bit to do to convince Congress that this is not as politically risky a thing to do as some members might fear.”
He commended the USPS for helping allay fears among some mailers that cutting out a day would seriously disrupt postal operations.
“So for the most part they have made it abundantly clear that the operations side of the enterprise will not be overwhelmingly affected by the decision to go to five-day delivery,” he said.
He called for a lifting of the $5.4 billion-a-year obligation and for five-day delivery, which would save $3 billion.
Tony Conway, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, said his members could probably live with a delivery day cutback especially in light of falling mail volume which he doesn’t think will ever get back to its previous levels.
He also cited recent opinion polls indicating the public could accept one less day of delivery in lieu of a postage rate increase.
As with Del Polito, he doesn’t think Congress will act on this issue in 2010.
Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Marketing Association was all in favor of the delivery day cutback scheme for economic reasons.
“It will take costs out of the system and allow us to have lower costs to use the system and we desperately need that,” said Davison. “I don’t think anybody loves the idea of giving up a delivery day because there are some potential problems which we suspect are manageable.”
Those could include people feeling mail is less relevant than in the past.
“I think on balance this is something we need to do and I think we can manage the issues around it,” he said. “The catalogers are by and large in favor of it. We’ve just got to get costs out of the system.”
Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association, said his organization was not necessarily opposed to the idea but said he had to see a plan from the USPS first.
Del Polito said he hoped the USPS would unveil a plan March 2 when it makes a presentation March 2 in Washington, DC.
| University rector & DHL boss arrested in racketeering case |
| Sunday, 21 February 2010 | |
| The rector of the Zrinyi Miklós National Defense University – Hungary’s higher education facility for military personnel – was placed on remand last Thursday on suspicion of abuse of office. János Szabó had to be wrestled to the ground by National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) officers while attempting to resist arrest the previous Tuesday.
Szabó had allegedly told the Hungarian arm of the German parcel carrier DHL that it was the subject of an investigation over personnel transporting drugs and arms. He is alleged to have offered to use his influence to have the probe stopped, in exchange for DHL signing a contract with a security firm nominated by Szabó. Szabó’s lawyer denied last Wednesday that his client was guilty of abuse of office. However, DHL issued what appeared to be a partial confirmation of the allegations. “DHL Supply Chain confirms the fact that it was approached in connection with allegations against its employees and offered certain services, and that a person unconnected to the company has been arrested by the police in connection with these allegations,” the firm told the state news agency MTI last Wednesday. |
POSTED: 2:38 pm EST February 22, 2010
HEBRON, Ky. — Customs agents intercepted more than 150 pounds of opium Friday at a Hebron shipping company.
Authorities said agents discovered seven separate shipments of the drug during a routine screening of international parcels at the DHL facility at Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
The parcels, which were shipped from Laos and bound for Minneapolis, were listed as “Hmong Traditional Medicine Tea,” but instead contained plastic bags filled with wood twigs and dried leaves.
Agents said the leaves appeared to be saturated with an unknown substance that had a distinctive odor, and investigators said the substance tested positive for the presence of opiates.
The bags filled with opium-saturated twigs and leaves weighed 152 pounds total, agents said.
Authorities disrupted a shipment of similar items last month in Chicago, and agents said their investigation was ongoing.
By: MTI
2010-02-18 09:39
Detectives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) have asked a court to put the head of Hungary’s armed-services training college and the managing director of international delivery company DHL Freight in pretrial detention on racketeering charges, the Budapest public prosecutor told Hungarian public television on Wednesday.
The court will decide about their detention on Thursday, said Sandor Ihasz.
Press reports suggest that the dean of the Miklos Zrinyi National Defence University approached the international delivery company, saying that he would be able to influence a police investigation into the alleged transport by the company of illegal drugs and weapons in its favour in return for the company’s agreement to sever a contract with the defence college in order to make way for a new contract with a different security company.
The head of the college resisted arrest and sustained minor injuries, said NNI spokesman Laszlo Bartha earlier on Wednesday.
February 18, 2010 04:28 PM EST by Karl Leuba
Organizing labor has never been easy, And FedEx knows that if it ever gets easy they will be well equal to UPS. Here is the way the regulations are, UPS is regulated by the National Labor Relations board, and FedEx is regulated under the Railway Labor Act. The difference is this, Air Lines and Railroads have a de facto protection against union labor, collective bargaining contracts have to cover all workers nation wide to help prevent paralysis in the industries because of local strikes. There are more details HERE from National Public Radio.
Congress is considering changing the status of FedEx, putting them in the same regulatory mix with UPS and other trucking and delivery companies, and making it much easier to organize workers in local terminals. FedEx does not like this idea at all. They have launched a multimillion dollar ad campaign to get the change in status out of the FAA renewal bill now in the Senate. It has already passed the house.
Public Relations Week, says, “Earlier this week, FedEx launched a multimillion-dollar campaign, Brown Bailout, directly attacking its competitor United Parcel Service (UPS) for supporting legislation that could make it easier for some of FedEx’s workers to unionize. FedEx argues that the bill, currently making its way through Congress, is tantamount to a government bailout for UPS, because it would stifle competition.” You can read that story, if you register, HERE. UPS on the other hand says that FedEx has an unfair competitive advantage. It seems clear they do, since UPS employees have very widespread collective bargaining agreements, along with the resultant Higher Wages, Better Working Conditions, Better Health Care Coverage, Better, fully funded, Retirement Plans, and all the other benefits that go with Union Representation.
An Article in Business Week echos that, and shows the difference in the profitability of Each company. FedEx earned 182 million dollars on revenues of 8.14 billion. UPS earned 718 million on revenues of 10.9 billion. This is NOT a mistake. FedEx had a profit of 182 million dollars on 8.14 billion dollars in revenue with a labor force that is non union, earns less than UPS workers, and UPS made 718 Million on 10.9 billion with almost full unionization. For every 49 dollars FedEx earned on their revenue, UPS earned 59. And, the Union Company did more business.
I am having a REALLY TOUGH TIME BELIEVING THIS. But it was published in Business Week, and they have a better reputation these days than the Wall Street Journal. The Business Week article is HERE. It is hard to believe for a very simple reason, I have been told, since I was old enough to read the newspapers, that unions are bad for business.
But that is not the issue here.
The issue here is should FedEx Continue to enjoy a special status designed to avoid disruptions in rail and air travel or should they play on the same field as their competitors, including UPS and other regional, national and international package delivery companies.
The FedEx Ad Campaign is going to tell you NO…they should be treated the same way the airlines are.
November last year, the DHL management announced the selling of the domestic express network in France for some 200m Euros. The new owner, the French financial holding company Caravelle Investment Funds stressed this would be a long-term investment, but there is already rumors about a soon profitable selling. The question is, what about the future of the 3.500 employees? Although the French Trade Unions had prepared an alternative business plan based on saving the domestic business plan, the company rejected all Union proposals and Frank Allen was not available for a meeting.
The fear of the French Trade Unions is justified taking into account the normal procedure of such investment funds. The strategy always seems to be the same, buying, restructuring and getting the most profit out of it, regardless of the consequences for workers and selling. 3.500 persons are depending on this game now in France and we believe that Caravelle has little incentive to retain the staff affected by this decision and has merely purchased DHL’s operation in France to expand its own network and customer list. The top priorities for our colleagues in France include negotiating social conditions and a social plan with the old DHL management which is transferable to Caravelle and trying to reach a job guarantee for 3 years for people moving to Caravelle. The French Unions already announced to fight till the end and with all available measures for them.
UNI europa is against the selling of the domestic express network in France and is disappointed that the DHL management wasn’t prepared to listen to our French colleagues about alternatives and solutions.
UNI europa demands fair and open negotiations with the French Trade Unions by both managements, DHL and Caravelle Investment Funds, to find solutions to protect the workers.
UNI europa fully supports the French Unions in their fight for the future of our colleagues. We are solidary with them and call all affiliated Unions to support them in their struggle.