Death of the morning post for 60 pct of Britain

Almost two-thirds of homes and businesses will be condemned to afternoon deliveries under fiercely contentious Royal Mail plans.

The proposal, hidden away in a consultation paper, signals yet another downgrading of a once first-class postal service.

The Post Office has been accused of 'attempting to charge first class prices while delivering a second class service'

Currently, 94.4 per cent of homes and businesses receive their mail before noon, with deliveries as early as 7am for many.

Under the new plan, no one would receive anything before 10.30am, while 60 per cent would have to wait until after midday.

The industry regulator Postcomm has indicated it supports the move, but there is still time for the public to make its voice heard before the consultation ends on August 28.

However, while the company is planning to phase in the changes before the Christmas rush, the directive does not come into force until January.

The Communication Workers Union says it is all part of a savaging of services that will cost 40,000 jobs.

It would certainly leave the service looking a sorry shadow of what it once was. In 1908 the Royal Mail made 12 deliveries a day in central London, starting at 7am and running through to 9 pm.

More recent reductions in service include the scrapping of the daily second delivery in 2004, cuts in the number of collections from post boxes, and the bringing forward of last-collection times at many boxes.

Royal Mail is under no legal obligation to ensure deliveries are made before noon even though research shows the overwhelming majority of consumers values such a target.

The consultation document says the plan would be to "shift the peak in residential deliveries between 10.30am and 2pm".

An accompanying graph shows there will be no deliveries before 10.30am. Ten per cent would be delivered by 11am, a further 10 per cent by 11.30am and a further 20 per cent by noon. The graph suggests the rest would arrive by 2.15pm.

Many of those receiving post in the last wave could find themselves unable to reply overnight because they have already missed the last collection from their post box, many thousands of which have had their final pick-up times brought forward to before noon.

The British Chambers of Commerce condemned the proposals and accused Royal Mail of attempting to charge first class prices while delivering a second class service.

Royal Mail claims that maintaining the current scale of deliveries will cost GBP 280 million by 2009/10 and require an increase in the cost of stamps to pay for it.

Apparently, it would have to spend extra money on flying mail around the country to escape the speed restrictions on lorries.

The consumer body, Postwatch, is not convinced that this is the case.

Royal Mail and the CWU are currently locked in a dispute over pay and conditions and have agreed not to give any briefings on working practices during their talks.

• Industrial action by postal workers over the last six weeks has created a backlog of 80 million items.

This means the Royal Mail is set to miss all its delivery targets and could be fined up to GBP 350million.

PostWatch has listed some of the consequences of the problem:

– Hospital appointment letters lost
– House sales held up
– Delays in orders for small businesses
– Credit cards and PINs arriving together
– Charges for late credit card payments
– Birthday cards and gifts delayed or lost
– Concert and theatre tickets arriving after the event