Ofcom - questions

[Darren Bent]

Have they done anything good for Royal Mail or Royal Mail employees ?

Have they done anything about TNT monopoly on collecting mail and Door to Door contracts.

[bustedflush]

Have they done anything good for Royal Mail or Royal Mail employees ?

Have they done anything about TNT monopoly on collecting mail and Door to Door contracts.

No, they sit on their hands and are not intending to review anything until they report back December 2015.

MP's are though lobbying on behalf of RM to bring the review forward due to the threat to the USO/RM from unfair competition allowed due to their exemption from the USO and the resulting cherry-picking.

[clashcityrocker]

What monopoly do TNT have on collecting mail and D2D?

[bluealbert]

What monopoly do TNT have on collecting mail and D2D?

That's what I was thinking

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Have they done anything good for Royal Mail or Royal Mail employees ?

Yes the VAT exemption on some services (albeit not many). When that's removed prices will go up 20%

[Brain Fury]

Have they done anything good for Royal Mail or Royal Mail employees ?

Have they done anything about TNT monopoly on collecting mail and Door to Door contracts.

It isn't Ofcom's job to do "something good" for RM although arguably relaxing the regulations on pricing was a good thing.

[Postie45]

lets face it, Ofcoms ideas of opening up competition to improve service to the customer has backfired spectacularly.
Raised prices and poorer service for all, well done Ofcom

[wabbithunta]

Note to Admin:
This pdf file is taken from http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... l-services" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If you wish to remove this then please do so if you feel it's not secure and want to download it yourself and place it in another area of this forum for people to read or download it for themselves, the link is also listed further down this posting, above some info regarding this subject.

SN06935.pdf

Below are various links that cover the same issue regarding OfCom and the USO and TNT

http://www.cwu.org/westminster-campaign ... pport.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://postandparcel.info/61595/news/co ... mpetition/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://centrallobby.politicshome.com/la ... es-market/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


(This link is the same as the one at the top of this posting)
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... l-services" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(This link has the PDF download if you wish to download it directly from the above link)

TNT Post and Royal Mail: end-to-end competition in postal services - Commons Library Standard Note
Published 15 July 2014 | Standard notes SN06935
Amended 17 July 2014
Authors: Lorna Booth, David Hough
Topic: Postal services
TNT Post are in direct competition with Royal Mail in parts of London, Liverpool and Manchester – they now provide a full ‘end-to-end’ service in these areas, delivering business post directly to the addresses of customers. TNT Post’s end-to-end business has expanded rapidly since they started trials for the service in West London in April 2012 and they are said to be aiming to cover 42% of addresses by 2017.

Royal Mail believe that this competition is a threat to the universal service they provide, suggesting that TNT Post ‘cherry pick’ certain routes and noting that – unlike Royal Mail – TNT Post do not have to pay the costs of providing a service six days a week to all addresses across the UK.

This note explores end-to-end competition in postal services, TNT Post’s expansion, Royal Mail’s concerns, possible responses and the position taken by Ofcom, the regulator, so far.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 7-0002.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Listed below - Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings

17 July 2014 : Column 1069

Backbench Business

Universal Postal Service

1.47 pm

Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab): I beg to move,

That this House believes that the Universal Service Obligation as set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 is under threat from unfair competition from organisations which are rapidly expanding end-to-end delivery services in low-cost, high-density urban areas while leaving high-cost, low-density rural areas to be covered by Royal Mail, the universal service provider; and calls on the Government to instruct Ofcom to bring forward proposals to protect the Universal Service Obligation and the commercial viability of Royal Mail against this threat.

I am very grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us to have this important, timely, and indeed urgent, debate, given the threat to the universal service obligation. I refer to my entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and advise the House that I have worked with Royal Mail, the Communication Workers Union and Unite the union on the issue in the run-up to the debate.

The London assembly yesterday passed a similar motion expressing concern at the expansion of end-to-end postal services by TNT Post and the ability of such organisations to cherry-pick services that provide the most lucrative work. The assembly was particularly interested in that, as TNT started off providing end-to-end services in London. The motion it passed went further than the one we are considering today, as it called on Royal Mail to be brought back into public ownership.

Royal Mail is the UK’s universal service provider. It is required under the Postal Services Act 2011 to deliver to 29 million UK addresses six days a week, and five days a week for other packets, all being delivered at an affordable, geographically uniform price.

Ofcom became the official regulator of postal services on 1 October 2011. Its primary duty is to secure the provision of the universal service obligation for postal services. It also has a duty, under the Communications Act 2003, to further the interests of citizens and consumers, where appropriate, to promote competition, but its duty to secure the universal service obligation always takes precedence.

There are two types of competition in postal services. The first is downstream access, which allows providers other than Royal Mail to collect and sort mail and then give it to Royal Mail to deliver over the so-called final mile. Obviously, it is not always only a mile, and sometimes it can be less than a mile, but that final part of the process is the part that Royal Mail has a legal obligation to carry out. The other type is the end-to-end service, which is the direct delivery of mail to the customer without any need for Royal Mail to get involved in the process. That is what I will focus on today.

TNT Post is currently Royal Mail’s main competitor in the end-to-end market. In 2012, it launched a direct delivery trial providing a full end-to-end service in west London. Since then, it has rapidly expanded into other parts of London and into Manchester and Liverpool. It plans, by the end of 2017, to cover over 42% of households in the UK, although only about 8.5% of the UK’s geographical area.

You can read the rest of this on the link above this quoted section taken from Hansard.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 7-0002.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This debate that went on for nearly two hours, and is covered in full in this Hansard report.
It covers a few pages online, and is way too long to be put into this posting, ended with the following:

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House believes that the Universal Service Obligation as set out in the Postal Services Act 2011 is under threat from unfair competition from organisations which are rapidly expanding end-to-end delivery services in low-cost, high-density urban areas while leaving high-cost, low-density rural areas to be covered by Royal Mail, the universal service provider; and calls on the Government to instruct Ofcom to bring forward proposals to protect the Universal Service Obligation and the commercial viability of Royal Mail against this threat.

Hope this helps people out who want to know what the latest situation is, as RM management, to my mind at least, seem to be a little slow in coming forward with information in regards to this matter, I may have missed some news as I've been away on holiday for a few weeks but as it is of concern to all RM employees and the job security and their employment concerns I posted the above information after doing a little online searching.