Letter of credentials and outline plan Mr Santa Claus Greenland
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Dear Sir Thank you for your time at our recent meeting. We at DHL are very excited to be given the opportunity to tender for this high-profile annual distribution process. At this point, we wish to demonstrate our capabilities and approach before proceeding to more detailed negotiations.
Scope
The contract under discussion is for delivery of presents to all children under 10 years of age (as at 25 December) in western Europe during the six-hour window of midnight to 6am on Christmas Day.
We have included the countries shown below and used the latest census data (2002). We have extrapolated the under-10 population at a rate of 10%. Using the naughty:nice factor of 98%, we have identified the number of children who qualify and applied the national birth rates (2006 United Nations World Population Prospects report) to calculate households containing good children under 10.
We understand that you will be able to provide more detailed data from your 'Santa Knows'' database, once the non-disclosure agreement has been signed. In particular, we assume some countries have far more naughty children than others.
Forwarding from Greenland to Europe
Your manufacturing facilit \ is at an undisclosed location in Greenland.
Working on the assumption of an average present weight of 2kg of gifts per child, we see the need to ship 70,243 tonnes of toys. As your manufacturing follows a normal distribution process through the year, peaking during the days of perpetual sun, 2.4% of toys (1,686 tonnes) will be manufactured in the final three months of the year.
Given your understandable reluctance to identify this site, you will retain responsibility for the initial delivery to port from your factories. Should you be happy to open up your sites to us, DHL Supply Chain would be delighted to work with you to engineer a solution, encompassing management of your vendors, consolidation at origin, all pre-shipment needs and the liaison at destination on your behalf, We propose to charter an ice-breaker vessel to collect the pre-loaded containers from the Port of Ammassalik in Greenland for a direct sailing to Rotterdam. Given the anticipated weight of the consignment, we propose to charter six 12,000 'I'EU-capacity vessels (loading consecutively). DHL Global Forwarding will manage the vessel chartering, port authorisations and all the importation formalities in Rotterdam. Containers will be colour-coded (at Ammassalik) to facilitate sorting to country destination in Rotterdam.
Given that the voyage time is about eight days, the last sailing opportunity is at the beginning of December. However, to allow time for sorting and distribution in Europe, we plan to ship at the end of October and air freight the final 1,686 tonnes between Nuuk (G0H) in Greenland and our central European hub in Leipzig in Germany, chartering aircraft from DHL Aviation.
The Boeing 777 has a payload of 77 tonnes, so 22 flights will be required. We will fly twice weekly during October, November and December, with a flight time of five hours If we can work with your manufacturing directorelf to synchronise production to country needs. we will operate direct flights into country hubs (such as East Midlands airport), rather than flying into the central European hub, and from there to warehousing. From the hubs, the toys will be trunked to warehousing. Each trunker carries about 20 tonnes, so we anticipate four trunker runs per flight. Warehousing
From Rotterdam. the colour-coded containers will be moved via road and rail, using the expertise of DHL Freight, to secure warehousing in each country operated by DHL Supply Chain.
The final file transfer from Santa KnowsTm to DHL proprietary systems of data and addresses will need to take place before each relevant deadline (6,24 and 25 December) to ensure the pick-andpack operation is completed in time for delivery.
Given newborns may miss data cut-off, we propose to hold a stock of suitable items at our Servicepoint locations. Parents will be able to collect these for their infants on production of a birth certificate.
Cust Orrls
Currently you do not pay any duties or taxes importing into either the European Union or European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Usually DHL will manage formalities on behalf of the shipper, and the consignee is responsible for all taxes. However, our experts are confident that your current dispensation can be extended and will embark on negotiations with the appropriate EU commissioners and EFTA representatives. As part of this process, you will need to become a 'Known Shipper: We should warn you that this is a rigorous process, however, we will be able to support you extensively through the application and vetting procedure.
Christmas Eve distribution
The pick-and-pack operation will be undertaken by DHL Supply Chain for direct injection into the DHL Express network for sortation to individual delivery routes.
To illustrate how this will work, let us take the UK as an example. We wish to assure you that we will not have to take on any casual labour to effect deliveries, with the attendant security and training issues.
The 3.3 million deliveries will be undertaken by employees from across all business units In the UK. DHL has approximately 60,000. This equates to 55 deliveries per employee over a six-hour period — approximately nine per hour. Our European standard for couriers is 8.77/ hour and, given that there is no proof of delivery (POD) and the traffic will be light on Christmas morning, nine deliveries per hour per employee is entirely feasible.
Uniforms, such as yours, are not possible due to health and safety legislation and the need for high-visibility vests. To avoid identity issues, each staff member will wear his or her identity card and hat.
Both remote areas and any last-minute transfers from the naughty to nice register will be served by DHL Same Day staff. This part of the business specialises in mission-critical shipments that need immediate collection and door-to-door delivery.
Our staff cannot climb down chimneys. We propose that every household with a qualifying child is issued with a 'secure present receptacle These can be collected from Servicepoint locations, which are located all over Europe — for example there are 1,000 alone in the UK. Located in high street locations such as branches of WH Smith, Ryman and Staples, they are open for the same hours as the stores.
Each parent/guardian will need to sign a legal waiver to receive the specially designed box, which must be securely fixed near to the front door of the property and NOT on the roof. This waives the need for proof of delivery, as we felt waking the household at 3am for a signature might not engender a festive spirit. As we are not obtaining PODs, we will not be able to offer insurance or any of the money-back guarantees that are normally in place.
There are some items that are restricted on our network, for example live animals and weapons. Costume jewellery is restricted, so sparkly tiaras may be out this year.
Returns policy You operate a no-returns policy and any attempt to return Santa's present causes immediate transfer to the naughty list.
Sustainability considerations
DHL takes its environment and sustainability responsibilities very seriously. Full details of how we aim to protect the environment can be accessed via our website. However, we were the first logistics company to publicly pledge a decrease in our carbon footprint of 30% by 2020 from a 2007 base.
With regards to corporate social responsibility, we plan to initiate relationships with homeless charities in each country to distribute the estimated 14.9 million offerings (mince pies, truffles, rice pudding etc) that will be left out for Santa. This is based on the assumption that two-thirds of households leave presents for you and the reindeers.
It is expected that approximately 1,862,500kg of carrots will be collected. We will link with donkey sanctuaries across Europe to dispose of the vegetables Although DHL Tradeteam is expert in the transport of alcohol, the glasses of whisky and sherry cannot be quality controlled, so we will dispose of it on site (pot plants may prove handy).
Added-value services
Rather than simply replace your current logistics solution, we wish to add value and therefore would suggest carbon offsetting to bring Santa into the 21st century.
Carbon offsetting (Go Green) offers a carbon-neutral way of shipping with DHL. This is a value-added service, available on international shipments for customers in Europe.
The principle is simple: we calculate all transport-related COz emissions from a shipment and balance them against (also known as offsetting) internal and external carbon-reduction projects — the end result is carbon-neutral, ie as much carbon is taken out as is put in.
You currently delegate letter-response duties to parents, which has led to loss of belief in the past. We would like to offer DHL Global Mail as a partner in an answering service,
Further considerations
DHL operates in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide— our knowledge and acceptance of cultural diversity is part of our own culture.
We are aware that not all European countries open presents at the same time — indeed we are impressed that you have been able to stagger deliveries to your advantage in this way for such a time without anyone noticing. Our plan will accommodate those who have presents on