Royal Mail may charge extra for deliveries to rural areas

THE Royal Mail is planning to charge some businesses more for sending mail to London and remote rural locations so it can cut delivery prices elsewhere in the country.

Officials say charges that more accurately reflect the cost of moving mail through the congested capital and out to the furthest corners of the UK will enable it to provide a better deal to companies wanting to blanket addresses in more accessible locations.

Both the company and regulators underlined yesterday that the charges will make no difference to residents and small businesses sending stamped mail.

The changes – planned for April 2009 at the earliest – will apply to a limited number of firms that send out vast amounts of junk mail, bills, statements, and other business correspondence using certain bulk mail services.

Eyebrows have been raised that Royal Mail finds it as expensive to deliver to London as far off places in the British Isles and the regulator Postcomm is wondering why bosses are so keen on the new price structure when most customers involved have already said they do not want it.

But the higher wages paid to staff working in the capital and the congestion charge are among the arguments for higher charges – although critics say the service would be better improving its efficiency in London.

Under the proposals a certain kind of business in London planning a mailshot on Leeds would be likely to pay 4.9 per cent less for deliveries to a business district and two per cent less to a densely populated area.

But one in Leeds planning a similar exercise in Greater London could be charged 2.5 per cent more. Both the Leeds and London example would face a 4.8 per cent increase to mail a sparsely populated area.

A Royal Mail spokesman it was too early to give a detailed breakdown of how the proposals might affect areas such as Yorkshire but the aim was to offer business bulk mailers a better and fairer deal.

“It would cut prices for two in every three letters posted using a range of business bulk mail services, while allowing the company to have a stronger competitive offer in an open market where rivals are targeting every bulk mailer,” he added. “The proposals affect 7,000 business bulk mailers and the tens of millions of Royal Mail customers who send stamped mail will continue to be able to post stamped letters to the UK’s 27 million addresses at a uniform price.”

Fewer and fewer of us write to each other any more and it costs the Royal Mail more to deliver personal correspondence than the cost of the stamp. With other companies now competing for a share of the business customers. the Royal Mail reckons it is losing six pence on every delivery.

Postcomm Chairman Nigel Stapleton said: “Royal Mail proposes a smaller price increase initially for Greater London than for rural and less populated areas.

“Postcomm’s recent consultation on the concept of varying business tariffs by destination identified that most major mailers did not want it and some might consider reducing their usage of mail as a result.”