Much has been said in the news about the erratic nature of Royal Mail’s operations in recent months, with post being late or not arriving at all and parcels left in odd places or missing in action.
Executives at the company were blaming the Christmas rush, but now well into the year and the festive season a tiny speck in the mirror, not much has noticeably changed and politicians, businesses and the general public are fast running out of patience.
At the beginning of February, the BBC reported that the Business and Trade Committee had given Royal Mail 2 weeks to respond to allegations that parcels were given priority over letters, resulting in delays to important and time-sensitive letters.
The committee had given Royal Mail 2 weeks to answer, but with no response forthcoming, the executives of the firm are to be called before parliament to give answers to the failing letter delivery service.
Royal Mail runs under a “Universal Obligation Service” (USO), which states that they are obligated to:
Deliver to all addresses in the UK
Deliver 1st-class letters 6 days a week
Deliver parcels 7 days a week
Offer a choice of 1st & 2nd class postage for letters and parcels
One price for all throughout the UK
Many readers will notice a difference between the USO and what they really experience as customers. “1st class letters 6 days a week”.
Take a glance at any social media forum and you will find daily posts from people asking where their mail is or asking why it’s late and importantly, missing hospital letters resulting in missed appointments.
With Royal Mail not giving answers, not even to an investigating committee, how are people supposed to learn where their letters are piling up.
You’re better off asking your postie; chances are they have no issues telling you exactly what goes on behind closed doors.
A common complaint from posties is that they are simply under too much of a workload to clear all their mail and parcels a day. In recent years a typical round will consist of anywhere between 500 and 900 delivery points. Daily rounds will consist of approximately 40-60 tracked parcels, a couple of “special deliveries” and the letters that come across their desk that morning.
During the festive period, this will increase to 150 parcels as well as the influx of Christmas cards. However, with the peak period gone, posties are still burdened with 100+ parcels a day. A higher volume of parcels comes down to Royal Mail expanding its parcel courier services to compete for market share.
When a postie brings the issue up to their manager that this level of increase is not sustainable to get their round done and finish on time. They are met with the answer “Make sure to take all your parcels and leave whatever mail you can’t deliver on time”. Many posties are willing to work extra and even come in on days off to help break down the backlog. However, many offices, such as the Blandford depot have frozen nearly ALL overtime payments dating back to December 19th, and managers are expecting posties to work for free if they are to dig Royal Mail out of a hole of its own creation.
No mention of prioritizing 1st-class mail; just make sure the parcels are done. This alone is the smoking gun that is the route of all issues with the mail. It also flies in abject contradiction to the party line that Royal Mail has been broadcasting in recent weeks.
The big issue is that this contradicts the USO to deliver 1st class post 6 days a week. Royal Mail’s USO is measured by the percentage of 1st class mail delivered on time. The minimum being 99% to be delivered on time. In 2025 Royal Mail was fined £21 million by Ofcom when it was found that only 77% of first-class mail was delivered on time. Internal predictions are currently gauging the number for 2026 at around 65%.
Resulting in the post being delivered in one lump once a week or not at all.
It would seem that unless major changes are made, that future fines are incoming.
Who has the answer?
How to fix the issues varies depending on who you ask.
Posties are crying out for more staff to help spread the load and break down the backlog.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents postal workers, has pitched many new USO models that mostly boil down to diluting the USO to take the pressure off and possibly make the company more profitable and reliable.
Royal Mail already has their answer; they plan on adjusting the USO, reducing the regularity of 2nd class post to help prioritize the 1st class letters. This forces the customer to use the more expensive first-class stamps if they want their mail to arrive on time. With letters already weeks late, it’s unclear how this will clear the backlog.
Internally, Royal Mail is already trialing a new system of working to make sure letters aren’t left behind. The most notable change is their “4 into 3” system. For every 4 postal routes, 3 of them will be delivered in full, and the 4th will be divided up and covered by the other 3. Adding another third of a route workload onto each postie. The same posties who already claim to be overworked.
This new way of working has already been trialed by multiple delivery offices throughout the country, under close scrutiny from the CWU. As a result of the trial, posties and the union have unilaterally rejected the changes and claimed it fixes nothing other than to save Royal Mail hiring new staff and only to work the existing staff harder.
Fresh legs on the field
So what’s stopping Royal Mail from giving the posties what they want and hiring more staff?
The issue goes back to 2022; after an 11-month dispute, 115,000 posties under the union took strike action over an 18-day period. This came after the union rejected a 7% wage rise, alongside worsening working conditions and proposals to make staff work Sundays.
A deal was struck in which posties would receive a 10% pay raise over 3 years and instead it was made optional for staff to work Sundays.
A lesser-known result from the strike was that Royal Mail introduced a new contract for any future staff to work under. Notable changes were that new staff
Did NOT have the option to work Sundays or not; it is mandatory.
A lower introductory pay rate (roughly 80p per hour).
Not receiving commission to deliver “Door to Door advertisements” (junk mail).
Not receiving paid breaks.
The contract for new starters created a 2-tier system, with new and old staff working for different rates of pay under different conditions for the same role.
Put yourself in the shoes of a new starter; you have to operate under worse conditions than the posties working alongside you. Under a heavy work load that will be getting heavier when the new USO kicks in. Being told to openly flout the current USO and leave letters behind and become a parcel courier, as that makes the company more money per delivery and fielding complaints from disgruntled customers on the doorstep every day. All of this for less pay per hour.
It is no wonder that since 2022, out of the 55,000 new hires brought on, 52% of them have since left the company.
Perfect storm
With no new staff, deteriorating working conditions and rising external pressure. It’s unlikely your Mother’s Day cards will arrive in time for Halloween this year.
Royal Mail is hoping to take on companies like Evri and DPD for parcel delivery market share, which have less strict delivery criteria. Anyone who’s had their Evri parcel launched at their door from the pavement or delivered to the local duck pond will attest to this. Along with the obligation to deliver the post on time, it seems Royal Mail is stuck in a battle; they don’t seem to have any strategy or funds to win.
Posties are not holding out hope that parliamentary grilling will produce any results other than more empty promises. They are stuck between the rock that is their passion to please their customers on their route, whom they have served for years, and the hard place that is late-stage capitalism, where the top of the pyramid pockets profits while breaking the backs of the working-class men and women who are the bedrock from where those profits stand.
Without major reform and an improvement in working conditions, you can expect to see more pigeonholes bursting with undelivered mail and tired, overworked posties trudging the streets with vans and pouches bursting beyond overflowing… just not with this year’s birthday cards.
who told them that 