E-billing streamlines car-hire

Following a successful trial at Stansted Airport, National Car Rental has launched key lockers at Birmingham and Luton airports. Key lockers enable business travellers to bypass the counter, gain secure access to the car keys and rental agreement and get on with their journey, quickly and easily, reports Easier Travel.

The lockers form part of National's Seamless Rental proposition, offering business travellers a streamlined rental experience, from reservation through to e-billing.

Customers wishing to use the key lockers simply make their reservation on carhirebooker.com or via National's contact centre, using a credit card or account facility. On arrival at the airport, they bypass the rental counter, go straight to the key locker and swipe their credit card to gain access to the car keys and rental agreement. Alternatively, if they are paying on account they simply enter the pin number confirmed by SMS at the time of booking.

A study conducted by eROI shows fewer people are reading marketing e-mails, reports e-consultancy.

According to the study, there is a continued decline in read rates across the board, as more e-mail clients are adopting the 'images off' default setting. A further decline in read rates was predicted throughout 2007, because only 4% of users change their e-mail client's default behaviour to disable images.

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday proved the most effective day to send out messages, with people more likely to read and click e-mails on those days.

Blue Cross, California's largest health insurer, says it will charge hundreds of thousands of people a $2 "service fee" just to receive their bills in the mail, reports SF Gate. "Business costs don't stay stagnant," says Nick Garcia, a spokesman for Blue Cross of California. "There have been increases in postage and paper costs."

Garcia says the fee, to be introduced in September, is already prompting many members to turn instead to electronic billing and payments. "When you're in the individual market and paying month to month, there might be fears of a lapse in coverage if you don't pay your bill on time. This will alleviate those fears."

Blue Cross isn't the only insurer charging customers a fee to receive their bills in the mail. Health Net bills its California members who have individual policies, $5 a month for paper bills. "This is to promote the efficiency of electronic payment methods," says Brad Kieffer, a Health Net spokesman.