MPs hear concerns from news weeklies about proposal to end Saturday Royal Mail deliveries

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/m ... oyal-mail/

Magazine delays are already a subject of complaint even before Royal Mail's proposals.

Royal Mail dropping Saturday deliveries could cost the publishing industry “millions of pounds in losses” to subscriptions, the House of Commons has heard.

Royal Mail has asked the Government to change its Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that it can stop Saturday letter deliveries, running a service on five days each week instead of the six it must currently.

News and current affairs magazine publishers have expressed worries about the proposal, fearing a widespread cancellation of subscriptions if their time-sensitive products are not delivered on a tight schedule. The likes of The Spectator, New Statesman, The Economist, The Week and Private Eye are among those with time-sensitive content whose subscribers may be most dissatisfied by long delays.

Labour MP Kate Osborne, who worked for Royal Mail for 25 years, told the Commons on Thursday that many letters sent in the UK, including current affairs magazines, are non-USO but are sent on the same network. She said an Ofcom review of users’ needs did not properly show the impact that the removal of Saturday deliveries would have on this type of information and business.

In a debate about the Royal Mail’s USO request, several MPs raised the potential collateral damage that magazines would face.
The SNP’s Chris Stephens said: “The end of Saturday deliveries would have a harmful effect on other industries, such as the publishing sector… It would result in millions of pounds in losses from people cancelling magazine subscriptions, for example, and reduce advertising revenues.”

Labour MP Seema Malhotra: “We are extremely concerned about that [USO request] and about the potential consequences, including for example for businesses with magazine subscriptions where Saturday deliveries form part of the delivery model.”

The minister responsible, Kevin Hollinrake, alleviated some of publishers’ concerns by telling the Commons the Government “currently have no plans to change the statutory minimum requirements of the universal postal service” and that any such change would have to be made through secondary legislation and agreed by Parliament.

“Our position has been very clear in my meetings with Royal Mail and [postal service regulator] Ofcom: we think that the six-day service should continue,” Hollinrake said, adding: “I have yet to receive any convincing case for a need to change to meet users’ needs and to ensure the financial sustainability of the universal postal service.”

But, if any change were to be considered, he said large business owners that might be impacted, such as magazine publishers, could “fully expect their needs to be taken into account” via surveys.

Some publishers, however, are already reporting dissatisfaction with the service they are their readers are getting from Royal Mail.

Conservative MP David Johnston said he has been receiving complaints from constituents since August 2020, “sometimes about things such as cards and magazine subscriptions not arriving for several weeks”.

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson responded in December to a reader whose postal subscription copies were routinely arriving late.

Nelson said: “We print The Spectator on Wednesdays and hand over to Royal Mail every Thursday morning – pay 1st class for next-day delivery. What then happens is a mystery. Royal Mail dysfunction [is] now posing a real threat to [the] weekly magazine industry.”

The Professional Publishers’ Association, which represents print and digital magazine brands in the UK, has previously argued that ditching Saturday deliveries would “seriously impact long-established weekly magazine titles, making it difficult to operate effectively without a Saturday delivery”.

“Many time-sensitive titles are mailed to land on a Friday or Saturday, and already have to build in an extra day due to Royal Mail processing delays.

“Publishers have previously stated that this could even lead to the closure of UK print editions and result in multi-million pound losses due to cancelled subscriptions and reduced advertising revenues.” The PPA also warned of potential bottlenecks and a rise in printing costs due to the reduction in capacity.

In a statement after Thursday’s debate, it said it would continue to engage with the Government, Royal Mail and Ofcom “to ensure that publishers are able to sustain and grow their successful subscription businesses”.

Royal Mail has said that its “future sustainability depends critically on urgent reform of the Universal Service”.

[SpacePhoenix]

Labour MP Kate Osborne, who worked for Royal Mail for 25 years, told the Commons on Thursday that many letters sent in the UK, including current affairs magazines, are non-USO but are sent on the same network. She said an Ofcom review of users’ needs did not properly show the impact that the removal of Saturday deliveries would have on this type of information and business.

AFAIK large letters come under the USO

[yellowbelly]

Labour MP Kate Osborne, who worked for Royal Mail for 25 years, told the Commons on Thursday that many letters sent in the UK, including current affairs magazines, are non-USO but are sent on the same network. She said an Ofcom review of users’ needs did not properly show the impact that the removal of Saturday deliveries would have on this type of information and business.

AFAIK large letters come under the USO

I know one of the publications referred to contains the statement 'Registered with the Post Office as a newspaper' or words to that effect (obviously
something historical still referring to the PO!), so is it something to do with that? i.e. as the item is a 'newspaper' it's not classed as a letter
and so not under the USO?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I think they are called Periodicals and come under https://www.royalmail.com/business/mail/publishing-mail which does appear to be outside the USO.

[Lounge Lizard]

Labour MP Kate Osborne, who worked for Royal Mail for 25 years, told the Commons on Thursday that many letters sent in the UK, including current affairs magazines, are non-USO but are sent on the same network. She said an Ofcom review of users’ needs did not properly show the impact that the removal of Saturday deliveries would have on this type of information and business.

AFAIK large letters come under the USO

I know one of the publications referred to contains the statement 'Registered with the Post Office as a newspaper' or words to that effect (obviously
something historical still referring to the PO!), so is it something to do with that? i.e. as the item is a 'newspaper' it's not classed as a letter
and so not under the USO?

Post Office Act 1908

20 Publications which may be registered as newspapers
(1)For the purpose of the registration of newspapers under this Act, any publication consisting wholly or in great part of political or other news, or of articles relating thereto, or ' to other current topics, with or without advertisements, shall be deemed a newspaper; subject to these conditions—
(a)that it be printed and published in the British Islands ;
(b)that it be published in numbers at intervals of not more than seven days ;
(c)that it have the full title and date of publication printed at the top of the first page, and the whole or part of the title and the date of publication printed at the top of every subsequent page.
(2)For the same purpose, the following shall be deemed a supplement to a newspaper, (that is to say) a publication consisting wholly or in great part of matter like that of a newspaper, or of advertisements, printed on a sheet or sheets or a piece or pieces of paper, or consisting wholly or in part of engravings, prints, or lithographs illustrative of articles in the newspaper ; the publication in every case being published with the newspaper, and having the whole or part of the title of the newspaper printed at the top of every page, or at the top of every sheet or side on which any such engraving, print, or lithograph appears. Provided that—
(a)Post Office regulations may modify the foregoing provisions so far as they apply to a supplement which consists wholly of engravings, prints, or lithographs illustrative of articles in the newspaper; and
(b)All sheets of a supplement shall be put together in some one part of the newspaper, whether gummed or stitched up with the newspaper or not.
(3)Although newspapers may be sent by post, it shall not be compulsory to send them by post.

21 Registration of newspapers at Post Office
(1)The proprietor or printer of any newspaper within the description aforesaid, and the proprietor or printer of any publication which, regard being had to the proportion of advertisements to other matter therein, is not within the description aforesaid, but which was stamped as a newspaper before the fifteenth day of June one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, may register it at the General Post Office in London, at such time in each year and in such form and with such particulars as the Postmaster-General directs, paying on each registration such fee not exceeding five shillings as Post Office regulations direct.
(2)The Postmaster-General may from time to time revise the register and remove therefrom any publication not being a newspaper.
(3)The decision of the Postmaster-General on the admission to or removal from the register of a publication shall be final, save that the Treasury may, if they think fit, on the application of any person interested, reverse or modify the decision, and order accordingly.
(4)Any publication for the time being on the register shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed a registered newspaper.

22 Newspapers under arrangement or convention
A registered newspaper shall be deemed a newspaper for the purposes of any arrangement or convention between His Majesty's Government and the government of any British possession or foreign state for securing advantages for newspapers sent by post.

[SpacePhoenix]

I think they are called Periodicals and come under https://www.royalmail.com/business/mail/publishing-mail which does appear to be outside the USO.

In MCs they don't get any special treatment, they are classed as and processed as large letters (or letters if small enough).