RM could scrap nextday deliveries and charge more for stamps

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail could scrap next-day deliveries and make customers pay more for first-class stamps

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A leading industry figure has revealed that the company may be freed of its legal duty to deliver to every UK address for the same price six days a week

oyal Mail customers could face the end of next-day deliveries or pay more for first-class stamps, a leading industry figure has said.

Mail Users Association Chairman Alan Halfacre backed calls for the company to be freed of its legal duty to deliver to every UK address for the same price six days a week.

His comments came as MPs investigate the Royal Mail’s universal service obligation amid fears for its future.

Worries intensified following last year’s botched £1.98 billion privatisation - and company bosses say rival firms, including Whistl(corr), cherry-pick profitable routes.

Royal Mail is committed to maintaining the universal service until at least 2021. Any earlier change would have to be agreed by MPs.

Mr Halfacre warned the “universal service obligation” cost Royal Mail an “enormous” amount of money.

“We are clear that probably first class should come out of the USO,” he said.

“I’m not saying you don’t continue to have first-class mail, but the price might be very different.”

Royal Mail’s website says customers can “trust 1st Class for quick, efficient delivery across the UK”.

It adds: “We aim to deliver your letters and parcels to their destinations the next working day.”

Mr Halfacre outlined the benefits to Royal Mail of delaying deliveries to some addresses.

“Having to make sure that mail is picked up, sorted, trucked, delivered the following day is very, very expensive,” he said.

“If they can deliver it a day after that then the logistics of managing mail is much, much more cost-effective.

“OK they will lose some revenue because it won’t be first class, but they will be able to be much more efficient.”

Mr Halfacre, who represents businesses sending a fifth of all UK post, urged domestic customers to plan ahead and use second class post.

A second class stamp costs 53p - nine pence less than first class.

“It is not a social stigma to put a second class stamp on a letter,” he said.

“We come down to, ‘I want to send my birthday card’ - well, try to remember to do it the day before rather than the last day.

“You have to do it two days before rather than one day before.”

Ed Richards, of regulator Ofcom, told yesterday’s meeting of Westminster’s Business Select Committee he wanted “the USO to be commercially sustainable.”

Meanwhile, MPs raised fears competition in the postal industry will create “a race to the bottom” if firms cut staff costs.

Consumer Focus Director Adam Scorer warned of a “detrimental impact on consumers”, with “less reliability of delivery, a low quality of service."

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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[trythat]

The way it seems to me is with the CoD review, next day won't really be able to be done any way, if you post after 0900 on quite a few of our boxes being moved to CoD, it won't be collected until the following day.