Japan Post : Cost-Saving Initiatives

Review of Procurement and Renovation
In fiscal 2002, the Postal Service cut costs by postponing its regular renovation of post boxes based on the perspective of only renovating boxes when necessary rather than uniformly renovating those that meet certain criteria, as well as by extending the period of use of roll palettes, which are ransport containers used to pack and protect mail, in order to reduce procurement of them. Meanwhile, despite preparations for the establishment of Japan Post such as computer system construction, significant cost reductions of 1.6% (or savings of 11.2 billion yen) year-on-year were made to supply costs overall, as a result of the reductions in expenses described above.

Some parts of collection, transportation and delivery of mail are outsourced to commercial carriers under specific requirements in accordance with the Postal Law and the Mail Transport Contract Law.The Postal Services Agency has introduced competitive contracting as part of its efforts to minimize outsourcing expenses. The table below shows the recent status of activities in this regard. Of the total volume of mail, the percentage handled by external contractors is about 21% for the collection of mail, 100% for transport, and about 21% for the parcel delivery. Transport is contracted out to transport companies, which use cars, aircraft, railway containers, and ships. As of April 2002 the numbers of contractors are 107 carriers using trucks, 9 airlines and air-forwarders, 24 forwarders using railroad containers and 67 shipping companies. In fiscal 2001, reductions in the cost of outsourcing transportation and other services contributed to a decrease of 4.3% (8.3 billion yen) in total mail-collection and delivery costs. Promotion of Competitive Tendering for Transportation and Other Services

Comparison of Japan's postal-staff numbers and mail-item volume to those of foreign countries

The number of full-time staff and the mail volume are shown in the UPU postal-service statistics for 2001. The mail volume for U.K. reflects the 2000 volume, and the mail volume for Canada reflects the 1993 volume.

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