Post Office may charge extra for early-morning mail

Post Office may charge extra for early-morning mail

Robert Winnett, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Best and worst postal districts
DELIVERIES of letters to homes before 9.30am may be ended unless residents pay special fees, under plans being put forward by the postal watchdog to cut delays.

The proposed reforms would, if implemented, represent the most far-reaching overhaul of the postal service in 30 years. In some areas one in four first-class letters is not delivered the following day and Postwatch, the official consumer regulator, believes standards will continue to fall unless the system is overhauled.

It says residential deliveries should be later in the morning and during the afternoon so that mothers with school-age children could be recruited as postmen. This might ease the problem of finding reliable staff in many areas.

Only people paying an annual fee, possibly £50, would be guaranteed early morning deliveries. Postwatch, which was established by the government earlier this year to monitor Post Office performance, believes the reforms are needed so the Royal Mail can find enough staff to compete for the lucrative business mail market. At present, Postwatch believes it is too stretched by its present commitments on household deliveries.

The plans have been discussed with the Royal Mail, union representatives, the Department of Trade and Industry and Postcomm, the regulator covering competition issues. All agree that there is need for substantial reform.

Postwatch and Consignia – the company that owns the Post Office, Royal Mail and Parcelforce – are about to embark on a nine-month study to gauge consumer opinion on the scheme, which, if agreed, would remove one of the central tenets of the postal system. The Royal Mail has a target to make all deliveries before 9.30am, although this is often missed.

Peter Carr, chairman of Postwatch, said: "Our initial research shows most people would prefer one reliable delivery a day rather than the current shambolic system. The average person does not need, or currently receive, post before they go to work."

Gillian Wilmot, Royal Mail's managing director, confirmed that the company was seriously considering the plan.

The government has set the Post Office a target of delivering 92.1% of first-class letters the following day. Postwatch is proposing the maximum fine for missing this target should be increased to 10% of Royal Mail's turnover, which could cost it more than £600m. Between April and June, the latest figures available, only 86.5% on first-class letters were delivered on time.

A new compensation package is also to be unveiled later this month that would force the Post Office to send free stamps to homes in areas where deliveries do not meet government standards. If the Post Office fails to agree to radical restructuring plans, watchdogs could force the Royal Mail to cut postage costs next year.

Just nine of Britain's 121 postal districts are meeting the targets. The worst is east London, where 73.4% of first-class mail is delivered the following day; the most efficient is Bradford, where the figure is 95.4%. Other black spots include Enfield and Harrow, both in north London, and Watford in Hertfordshire.

Last week people in Harrow spoke of their appalling postal service. Lyndsey Ward, 25, manager of the Bon Marché cafe, said: "I get weekly instructions sent from head office and a while ago they did not come. Head office sent a copy again and it still didn't come.

"The Post Office said they did not have the staff to deliver it to me and I would have to pick it up, or I could wait until after the weekend – which was not very helpful."

Ian McAleese, 59, a computer programmer, said he was walking along the road in Harrow when a postcard on the ground caught his eye.

"I picked it up and it was addressed to me," he said. "It was pure chance."

Jean Powell, 53, said: "I arranged for my late father's mail to be redirected here and a vital document didn't arrive.

"I would have lost £2,500 if the chap in the house where it had been delivered had not forwarded it to me."

This week Postcomm is expected to give a licence to the distribution company Hays to collect, sort and deliver business mail in parts of London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Best and worst postal districts

% of first class post delivered by the next day

Best

Bradford 95.4%
Sheffield 93.2%
Sunderland 93.2%
Doncaster 93.1%
Halifax 92.6%

Worst

East London 3.4%
Enfield 74.9%
Southwest London 77.4%
Watford 78.2%
Harrow 78.5%