The Needs of Postal Users – Customer Survey 2006 – also Library L13970

Also in the Library – number L13970

Executive Summary
Background
Postwatch, Postcomm, and Royal Mail jointly funded a research project with the aim of determining users' perceptions of the postal service, and the key needs of postal service stakeholders. This was the first large scale research project attempting to define the needs of users by directly asking residential and business users what their needs were. The results may be very useful for Postwatch in their role as the consumer watchdog, with information about the preferences of postal service users (and potential users) feeding into Postwatch policy and the overall Postwatch remit.

Key Findings
The key findings of the research are reported below, whilst the full set of results can be found on the Postwatch website as part of the research project's final report.
-The Universal Service Obligation
Although few survey respondents had heard of the Universal Service Obligation, there was widespread belief that all its features were important. The features that were felt to be important were deliveries and collections at least every working day, affordable prices for all, and geographical uniformity of stamp prices.
-Knowledge of Postal Services
Approximately three quarters of respondents were aware that 1st Class mail is expected to be delivered one working day after posting, and 2nd Class 3 days after posting, but most respondents did not know the correct price of 1st or 2nd class stamps. Despite a lack of knowledge of stamp prices, most respondents thought postal services were affordable and good value for money.
-Quality of Service Experience
Many respondents reported problems with their mail in terms of quality of service, with approximately half of all survey respondents reporting problems with lost mail and damaged mail in the previous 12 months. Approximately two thirds of respondents also reported incidents of mail being delivered to the wrong address in the past 12 months. Despite the apparent problems, respondents were overwhelmingly satisfied with Royal Mail's quality of service, with approximately 9 out of 10 respondents perceiving the service to be very good, quite good or neither good nor bad.
-Collections
Post Boxes and Post Offices are used by most people according to the survey, although the regularity of use differs widely. Callers Offices are also used frequently by residential customers to collect packets and parcels from, but less frequently by businesses. The survey also showed most respondents were very satisfied with the density of post boxes, both in rural and urban areas.
-Deliveries
The research showed deliveries made to the front door of properties were seen as being a valuable asset, with most respondents not willing to lose this level of service even if it meant earlier deliveries or a cheaper postal service. Respondents were also shown to not want any decrease in the number of deliveries made per week, with respondents saying they would be worse off if deliveries were any less frequent than now.
-Collection and Delivery Times
7% ospondents thought the last collection time of their post boxes had changed in the past 12 months, with the majority of changes resulting in earlier collection times. Respondents were generally very satisfied with all elements of the collection process, although they were least satisfied with the opening hours of callers offices. Delivery times were thought to have changed within the past 12 months by approximately 40% ospondents, with the majority of those reporting a change stating that delivery times were now later than before. The research showed that respondents were somewhat worse off if deliveries were made at 12pm rather than 8am, and far worse off if deliveries shifted from 12pm to 4pm or later. Delivery time consistency was measured in terms of the variations in delivery times, with the results showing approximately half of respondents had very consistent delivery times ( /- 30 mins), but a significant proportion had very inconsistent delivery times ( /- 2 hours). Early delivery times and late collection times were seen as being very important, with most respondents reporting that it was important to them that deliveries were made as early as possible, and last collections made as late as possible.