Shake-up planned for UK postal deliveries
Householders may have to wait until mid-afternoon to get their post delivered under cost-cutting plans being considered by the Royal Mail.
The Royal Mail says it needs to make savings of £1.26bn a year and admits a series of reforms may need to be introduced to help them hit their targets.
A spokesman for Consignia, formerly the Post Office which owns the Royal Mail, says prioritising deliveries so businesses receive their post before residential customers is one of the plans under consideration.
“We are looking at a number of proposals and we do have to make changes to save money. Lifestyles have changed from 30 years ago when the current delivery system was brought in
“Most people are out of the house nowadays by 8am and so it does not really matter to them whether their post arrives at 9am or 3pm. No decision has been made but we will listen to our focus groups and make sure we are offering what our customers want.”
At present, postmen aim to deliver letters and parcels to homes in urban areas by 10am.
But other changes being considered include evening deliveries and services for customers wishing to collect their mail themselves.
Unions were warned in October that bosses were looking for up to 30,000 job reductions as part of the cost-cutting plans.
The spokesman added: “It should be pointed out that the delivery service offered in the UK is still far better than in most other European countries.
“In the UK it costs 27p or 19p to send a 60g letter. In Germany it costs £1.08.”
