Nearly 1 in 10 first class letters delivered late by RM

[the deliverer]

From the Daily Telegraph today:

Nearly 1 in 10 first class letters delivered late by Royal Mail

Hundreds of thousands of first class letters and packets are not being delivered on time every day despite a huge increase in the price of stamps, new figures show.

The poor performance came despite Royal Mail pushing through controversial increases in the cost of sending letters and small packets - such as those containing DVDs - at the end of April, which were heavily criticised by pensioner groups.

Royal Mail’s latest quality of service figures show that it missed its target to deliver first class letters and packets on time in the most recent three month period.

Between April and June 2012, 92.9 per cent of first class mail was delivered on time the next working day after posting, just below its target of 93 per cent and up from the 91.4 per cent figure for the same period last year.

Given that typically Royal Mail handles 4.5million first class mail items every day, it means that more than 300,000 first class letters and packets were being delivered late. Royal Mail hit its targets for second class mail, delivering 98.6 per cent of its second class letters and packets on time, just ahead of its 98.5 per cent target.

Part way into the period, on April 30, Royal Mail drove up the price of stamps by the biggest margin for years.
The price of a first class stamp increased from 46p to 60p, and second class from 36p to 50p.

Labour criticised the performance. Shadow Postal Affairs minister Ian Murray MP said: "Given the recent increase in stamp prices, along with a major bonus for its chief executive earlier this year, people across the UK will be disappointed that the Royal Mail's high level of standards are slipping - yet it is costing 40 per cent more to the consumer.

"I am very concerned that we may be seeing the service being run down in advance of the Government sell-off and the next quarters results will be critical in ensuring this is not going to be an ongoing trend.

"I recently witnessed first-hand the wonderful job the Royal Mail staff do when I went on a proper delivery round. It highlighted how special and valuable the Royal Mail is to the country."

Mike O’Connor, chief executive of postal watchdog Consumer Focus, added: "Royal Mail has only narrowly missed its first class target for the last quarter.

"Royal Mail needs to meet its targets but it is good news that it has improved on its performance on first class mail over the same time last year."

Mark Higson, managing director of operations and modernisation at Royal Mail, said the missed target for first class mail came "at a time when the company is undergoing one of the biggest transformations in the UK industry.

"Every process that we are involved in - collecting, transporting, sorting and delivering mail – is changing as part of our modernisation programme.

"While we are disappointed to have missed our target, we are proud that we have maintained a high quality of service while the company and our people go through this huge process of change.”

There was further controversy in June when it emerged that Moya Greene, the chief executive of Royal Mail, was paid a £371,000 bonus last year.

In all, she was paid £1.1million, making her one of Britain’s highest paid public officials.

The figures are compiled by independent market researchers TNS based on over 133,000 sample letters, parcels and packets sent to over 5,700 addresses across the UK.

[fishtank]

Shadow Postal Affairs minister Ian Murray MP said: "Given the recent increase in stamp prices, along with a major bonus for its chief executive earlier this year, people across the UK will be disappointed that the Royal Mail's high level of standards are slipping

Between April and June 2012, 92.9 per cent of first class mail was delivered on time the next working day after posting, just below its target of 93 per cent and up from the 91.4 per cent figure for the same period last year.

slip·ping
To decline from a former or standard level; fall off.

I'm disappointed to see that the standard of education amongst MP's is slipping.
The standard of journalism at The Telegraph sadly remains pretty much the same...dire.

[Lounge Lizard]

It's a target of 93 per cent not a guarantee of 93% and we might do a bit better if it wasn't for all the DSA mail expected to be promptly delivered for little income .

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Looking at one comment it appears that its a hack piece and may not be as "independent" or as "unbiased" as they may want you to believe.

I see the DT still has this story as front page news...What is their agenda...???

Don't suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that the parcel delivery business Yodel, owned by the DT's proprietors is currently being slated for their performance by its major customer Amazon, and has already been abandoned by John Lewis and others....

You might like to read this story from last Friday's Guardian on the subject...

Sorry it has to be in the Grauniad, but for some reason the DT hasn't reported the story yet.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/au ... sfeed=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DGP1]

Looking at one comment it appears that its a hack piece and may not be as "independent" or as "unbiased" as they may want you to believe.

I see the DT still has this story as front page news...What is their agenda...???

Don't suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that the parcel delivery business Yodel, owned by the DT's proprietors is currently being slated for their performance by its major customer Amazon, and has already been abandoned by John Lewis and others....

You might like to read this story from last Friday's Guardian on the subject...

Sorry it has to be in the Grauniad, but for some reason the DT hasn't reported the story yet.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/au ... sfeed=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;