Thurso mail heads south

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ALL mail posted from Thurso will now be sent to Inverness to be sorted, it has emerged.

The change, which came into effect on Monday, is "the fastest and most efficient method of processing mail", according to a Royal Mail spokeswoman.

She said: "The Royal Mail network involves daily journeys that link Thurso to Inverness Mail Centre, and transferring the mail to Inverness incurs no additional transportation cost or time.

"It is more cost effective and efficient for Royal Mail to gather and sort mail at central points than to fragment the mail for sorting at local level."

The new system means that a letter sent from Thurso to Lybster, for example, would go to Inverness first.

The group's representative explained, however, that mail arriving for delivery in Thurso was still sorted at the office in Sinclair Street, and that the office was still used for package collection and deliveries.

The spokeswoman said: "All collection mail from Thurso is now treated in exactly the same way as mail posted to and from any other part of Scotland.

"This means that mail is collected and channelled through one of our four mail centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.

"Because of the logistics of mail collection, sorting and delivery, this is the fastest and most efficient method of processing mail. It is the case that all mail from Thurso is now channelled through Inverness Mail Centre."

She added that the move would have "no impact on staff hours" for workers at the Thurso base, which employs around 20 staff.

Mail posted from Wick after 2.30pm is already sorted in Inverness.