Viapost service to challenge postal operators

Royal Mail and other postal operators will face a new competitive challenge next month, with the launch of a service that promises to cut the cost of business mail and reduce the carbon emissions of sending letters through the post.

Viapost will allow customers to e-mail letters to distribution centres around the country, where they will be printed out, folded and sorted before being handed over to local Royal Mail distribution centres for final delivery to the recipients.

Although Royal Mail will deliver for Viapost over “the final mile”, the new service is likely to take business from its collection and sorting business where t has already lost a large share of the market to competitors such as TNT Post and UK Mail.

The state-owned operator is currently locked in negotiations with the postal union over its modernisation plans, with a deadline of Tuesday for reaching agreement to avoid further strikes.

However, the new service will also pose a threat to Royal Mail’s competitors, since it could prove attractive to the large business mailers that have already switched to private-sector providers but want to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Viapost regional centres will be much closer to the 70 Royal Mail access points that take in post for final delivery and using them will reduce carbon emissions associated with mailings by up to 60 per cent.

The idea is the brainchild of Ben Way, the dotcom millionaire who was named new business millennium young entrepreneur of the year in 2000. The company is chaired by David Bland, former chairman of Postwatch South-East, the postal consumer watchdog, and the chief executive is Simon Campbell who has built several businesses.

The Viapost service will offer immediate savings to small and medium-sized businesses which will be able to send out invoices, marketing circulars and other correspondence by e-mail from their desktop computers. The letters will be printed out on high-quality printers at regional distribution centres and inserted in envelopes before being fed into Royal Mail’s delivery system.

The new service will guarantee first-class delivery for the cost of a secondclass stamp, while saving the cost of stationery, printing supplies and labour for filling envelopes. Viapost estimates this will save small businesses about £1 an item in time, materials and postage.

Large business mailers already use specialist mailing houses to print out and sort their post before handing it over to Royal Mail for final delivery. However, because Viapost will be able to print the items at regional centres closer to the recipients, it will save the cost of shipping the sorted mail around the country.

The main attraction for these mailers will be the saving in carbon footprint, according to Mr Campbell. “All the banks are now looking for ways of reducing their carbon emissions, as is BSkyB.”