Prsentation PowerPoint

1
Behaviour and expectations of single piece mail
users A French study
ARCEP - TNS Sofres
2
Objectives

• The survey covers both companies and households
  who have been questioned about their behavior and
  expectations as a sender and as a receiver.
• Behaviors and expectations are assessed on 3
  basic products
• The letter (less than 2 kg)
• The standard Parcel (up to 20 kg)
• The registered service (letter and parcel)
• The survey was conducted by telephone from the
  19th of September to the 17th of October 2005
  among 1334 households and 1022 companies. The
  first sample was representative of French
  households equipped with fixed-line telephone.
  The second sample was made of at least 1
  employee-companies representing both commercial
  and non commercial activities.

3
Methodology

• To define postal service users behaviors, data
  has been collected in an empiric way. Users have
  been asked to describe their behavior as senders
  as well as receivers. The questionnaire was
  designed in order to identify the products used,
  the frequency of use and the volume (PART 1).
• Expectations and preferences collected by asking
  interviewees to arbitrate between different
  postal services criteria via a simplified
  trade-off method known as the Comrey method
  (PART 2).
• Classify preferences into a hierarchy in order to
  evaluate their weight in the company and
  household value system.
• The interviewee cannot say she/he desires
  everything proposed but focuses on aspects she/he
  really cares about.
• In this survey, the individual does not directly
  express what her/his expectations are, she/he is
  not asked to give an importance score to each
  criterion, but her/his choices (and compromises)
  reveal them.
• In that sort of study, price are not take into
  account.

4
PART 1 POSTAL PRACTICES1-1 Households postal
practices1-2 Companies postal practices1-3
Postal practices Losses or damagesPART 2
EXPECTATIONS, PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS
5
1-1
Households postal practices
6
Postal practices letters
Households

• 57 of households receive at least one letter
  almost everyday
• Parisian households (24 receive more than 10
  letters per week)
• high socio-economic group (24)
• At the contrary, 59 of over 65 year old
  households receive less than 5 letters per week.
• 42 of households send at least one letter per
  week.
• Parisian households (24 send more than 10
  letters per month)
• High socio-economic group (23)

A1 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your household received standard letters
coming from France ?

-
Volume of reception of standard letters per week
Base 1334 (Total sample)
lt 5
5 à 9
10 et
A8 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your household sent standard letters in
France ?

Volume of sending of standard letters per month
lt 5
5 à 9
10 et
Base 1334 (Total sample)
7
Postal practices parcels and registered mail
Households

• Around 1 household out of 2 has received at least
  1 registered mail over the last 12 months and
  around 1 household out of 2 has sent at least 1
  registered mail.
• Reception of registered mail
• High socio-economic group (68),
• Web users (66),
• Under 35 year old (65),
• Parisian households (64).
• Sending of registered mails
• Web users (68),
• High socio-economic group (67),
• Under 35 year old (66),
• Parisian households (64).
• Around 1 household out of 2 has received at least
  1 parcel over the last 12 months and 1 household
  out of 3 has sent at least one.
• Reception of parcels
• Web users (64),
• high socio-economic group (63),
• Parisian households (57).
• Sending of parcels
• High socio-economic group (44),
• Web users (41),

SC5 Over the last 12 months, in your household,
have you received by La Poste and coming from
France...


Base 1334 (Total sample)
SC6 Over the last 12 months, in your household,
have you sent by La Poste and to France...


Base 1334 (Total sample)
8
Postal practices parcels
Households
A3 Over the last 12 months, how many parcels
coming from France has received your household
excluding insured items and Chronopost ?

• 49 of the parcel receiver households received
  between 1 and 3 within the last 12 months, 51
  more than 3.
• No difference with respect to socio-economic
  groups or to geographical location.
• 61 of the households receive mainly their
  parcels from businesses or administrations, and
  21 mainly from households.
• Parcels are mostly distributed in letter boxes
  (41) or by the post woman or man (30). 19 of
  the households collect their parcels at the post
  office.
• 60 of the parcel sender households sent between
  1 to 3 within the last 12 months, 40 more than
  3.
• 82 of the households sent their parcels to some
  other households only 9 send parcels mostly
  to businesses (including return to sender for
  mail order selling,).

Base 711 (receive parcels)
A11 Over the last 12 months, how many parcels
has sent your household ?
Base 437 (send parcels)
except Chronopost and registered mail
9
Postal practices registered mail (letters or
parcels)
Households
A6 Over the last 12 months, how many registered
mail items (letters or parcels has your
household received from La Poste ?

• 55 of the registered mail receiver household
  have received between 1 and 3 items within the
  last 12 months.
• 19 of over 65 year old households received at
  least 10 registered items within a year,
• Parisian households often received from 4 to 9
  registered items (44),
• Rural households from 1 to 3 (63).
• 1 household out of 2 mostly received their
  registered mail from the post woman or man the
  other half collects them at the post office.
• 63 of the registered mail sender households have
  sent from 1 to 3 registered items within the last
  12 months.
• 23 of over 65 year old households sent 6
  registered items,
• 23 of over high socio-economic group households
  sent 6 registered items.

-
Base 658 (receive registered mail)
A14 Over the last 12 months, how many
registered mail items has your household sent
from La Poste ?

Base 688 (send registered mail)
10
Postal practices of the households web users
and non-web users
Households
44 of interviewed households are equipped with
the Internet at home. (35 of the whole
population according to Médiamétrie 3rd
trimester 2005). This difference can be explained
by the fact that only the households that are
equipped with a fixed telephone were interviewed
during this study.

• Web users households .

• receive more ordinary mail and more frequently
  that non-users
• 68 of web users household receive mail almost
  everyday (others48).
• 49 of web users household receive from 5 to 10
  letters a week (others37).
• are more numerous to have received at least 1
  parcel or 1 registered mail item within the last
  12 months.

• send more ordinary mail
• 47 of web users households send mail at least
  once a week (others39).
• are more numerous to have sent parcels and
  registered mail within the last 12 months.

Base 1334 (Total sample)

• Nevertheless, the numbers of parcels and insured
  mail sent over the last 12 months by web user
  households and non-web users households are
  almost the same.

11
1-2
Companies Postal Practices
12
Postal practices letters
Companies
A1 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your company received ordinary letters from
France ?

• Almost every company receive letters every days.
• Insurance and financial intermediaries (58
  receive more than 50 letters a week), Services
  industry (53), transport (51), legal
  activities (51),
• Retailers (56 receive less than 20 letters a
  week), hostelry catering (54), building industry
  (51).
• 7 companies out of 10 send letters everyday
• Insurance and financial intermediaries (68 send
  more than 50 letters a week), legal activities
  (49),
• hostelry catering (80 send less than 20 letters
  a week), trade (68).

-
Volume of reception of ordinary letters per week
Base 1022 (Total sample)
lt 20
20 à 49
50 et
A9 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your company sent ordinary letters to France ?

-
Volume of sending of ordinary letters per week
lt 20
20 à 49
50 et
Base 1022 (Total sample)
13
Postal practices parcels and registered mail
Companies
SC5 Over the last 12 months, has your company
received by La Poste and from France

• More than 80 of companies send or receive
  registered mail.
• Legal activities, industry, real estate
• Retail business (68 send or receive).
• 1 company out of 2 has sent at least a parcel
  within the last 12 months 60 received at least
  one.
• Sending
• Transport (70), retail business (63), industry
  (61), Companies from 50 to 99 employees (59)
  and especially with more than 100 employees
  (71).
• Building industry (33), Legal activities
  accountancy (23).
• Reception
• Transport (83), retail industry (75), companies
  with more than 100 employees (80).

-
Base 1022 (Total sample)
SC6 Over the last 12 months, has your company
sent by La Poste and to France

-

Base 1022 (Total sample)
14
Postal practices parcels
Companies
A3 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your company received by La Poste parcels
weighing under 20kg from France apart from
Chronopost registered ?

• 69 of parcels receiver companies receive parcels
  at least once a month, and 27 at least once a
  week.
• Transport (37 receive at least 4 a month),
  industry (34), trade (35 among which 46
  wholesale dealers).
• 52 of parcel sender companies send parcels at
  least once a month.
• Industry (29 send at least 4 a month), trade as
  a whole (27 among which 33 whole sale dealers)

Volume of reception per month
Base 623 (receive parcels)
lt 1
1 à 3
4 et
A12 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
your company has sent by La Poste parcels
weighing less than 20kg apart from registered ?

Volume of sending per month
lt 1
1 à 3
4 et
Base 483 (send parcels)
except Chronopost and registered
15
Postal practices registered mail (letters or
parcels)
Companies
A6 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your company received by La Poste registered
letters of parcels from France ?

• 72 of registered mail sender companies receive
  at least once a month, 33 at least once a week.
• Legal activities (79 receive at least 4 per
  month), transport (52), real estate (49).
• hostelry catering (50 receive less than once a
  month), Companies with 1 or 2 employees (38).
• 64 of registered mail sender companies send at
  least once a month and 25 at least once a week.
  
• financial intermediaries (81 send more than 4
  times a month), Legal activities (75),
• Trade (49 receive less than once a month),
  hostelry catering (50).

-
Volume of reception of registered mail per month
Base 850 (receive registered mail)
lt 1
1 à 3
4 et
A16 Over the last 12 months, at what frequency
has your company sent by La Poste registered
letters and parcels to France ?

-
Volume of sending of registered mail per month
lt 1
1 à 3
4 et
Base 862 (send registered mail)
16
1-3
Postal practices Losses or damages
Similar results as in other European countries in
spite of the big differences in methods (UK,
Portugal, Malta, ).
17
Households Postal practices Losses or damages
A17 Over the last 12 months, in your household,
has it happened that you did not received an
expected letter/parcel or that you received it
damaged ?
Base 1334 (Total sample)

• 22 of households declare that they have not
  received an expected letter/parcel or that they
  have received it damaged.
• 11 of households declare that a letter/parcel
  they sent was lost or damaged.
• 11 of households made a complaint to La Poste
  within the last 12 months.
• It should be noted however that these are
  perceived incidents. (a very rough calculation
  give loss rate for letters (not) received by
  the households at less than 3 to 10.000 and
  loss rate for letters sent by the households at
  less than 9 to 10.000).

Yes (at least 1 letter/parcel lost or damaged
22
A19 Over the last 12 months, in your household,
has it happened that a letter/parcel you sent did
was not delivered or was delivered damaged ?
Base 1334 (Total sample)
Yes (at least 1 letter/parcel lost or damaged 11
18
Companies Postal practices losses and damages
A17 Over the last 12 months, in your company,
has it happened that you did not received an
expected letter/parcel or that you received it
damaged ?
Base 1022 (Total sample)

• 31 of companies declare that they have not
  received an expected letter/parcel or that they
  have received it damaged.
• 23 of companies declare that a letter/parcel
  they sent was lost or damaged.
• 16 of companies made a complaint to La Poste
  within the last 12 months.
• It should be noted however that these are
  perceived incidents. In addition, a quick
  calculation reveals that these figures have to be
  put into perspective (a very rough calculation
  give loss rate of the letters (not) received or
  sent by companies at 1 to 10.000).

Yes (at least 1 letter/parcel lost or damaged
31
A19 Over the last 12 months, in your company,
has it happened that a letter/parcel you sent did
was not delivered or was delivered damaged ?
Base 1022 (Total sample)
Yes (at least 1 letter/parcel lost or damaged
23
19
PART 2THE EXPECTATIONS PARTICULARLY
SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS
20
Methodology (Again!)

• Expectations and preferences collected by asking
  interviewees to arbitrate between different
  postal services criteria via a simplified
  trade-off method known as the Comrey method.
• Classify preferences into a hierarchy in order to
  evaluate their weight in the company and
  household value system.
• The interviewee cannot say she/he desires
  everything proposed but focuses on aspects she/he
  really cares about.
• In this survey, the individual does not directly
  express what her/his expectations are, she/he is
  not asked to give an importance score to each
  criterion, but her/his choices (and compromises)
  reveal them.
• In that sort of study, prices are not take into
  account.

21
This study has shown several points of importance

• The importance of speed, especially for letters
  in D1 and parcels in D2. It is the main
  expectation compared to all other criteria.
• 2nd criteria, convenience (deposit and delivery)
  comes just after, and especially for parcels and
  registered mail. Ex Companies ask for later
  deposit for mail (2 /3) and households are for
  better delivery in case of absence.
• Delivery 6 days a week appears to be important.
• For registered mail, reliability is household
  main expectation, proof of delivery is companies
  main expectation.
• Tables summarized the results

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Households Ranking of the preferences
Households
23
Companies Ranking of the preferences
Companies
24
 
Ranking of the preferences
Households Companies
25
Is there something really new in this study ?

• Speed expectations seems to have changed in the
  90 reliability in D2 came first (see for
  example European Green Paper, 1992), now
  expectation is reliability speed. Recent studies
  show similar results.
• Convenience of deposit and delivery are
  perceived as essential.
• For postal operators It is very difficult to
  measure directly traffic losses and damages. But
  nevertheless, it is a real issue.