Bristol “green” letter delivery service eyes expansion in UK

Hybrid mail company CFH Docmail says its new local postal delivery service in the Bath and Bristol area of England has got off the ground successfully. Docmail Local Post uses an environmentally-friendly fleet of five electric bicycles to deliver mail for businesses needing delivery 14 postcode areas of Bristol and 12 postcode areas of Bath.

The company offers a guaranteed two-day delivery service for addressed mail, and also a budget unaddressed mail delivery service, which sees leaflets going out along with the letters being delivered.

Prices for delivery are 30p for each standard letter, 45p for large letters and 2p per item for unaddressed mail.

Docmail Local Post said it has now collected, sorted and delivered 100,000 letters on the service since October.

Plans are to introduce the service to other towns and cities in the South West of England and South Wales, with Swindon and Cardiff the next in line.

The company ultimately aims to roll the service out throughout the UK.

Local interest

Docmail Local Post manager Joe Broadway said the new postal service was geared to companies operating locally who recognise the benefits of physical mail.

“By making best use of the local knowledge of our dedicated teams of delivery personnel, we are able to offer our customer the service that suits them best,” said Broadway.

“We’ve had a superb response from companies such as retailers, opticians, clubs and estate agents who all rely on communicating with their local customers.”

Based at Radstock, near Bath, CFH is a downstream access mail company that handles around 40m letters a year.

The company launched its Docmail hybrid mail service back in 2008, which allows customers to send mail electronically, for local printing in several major UK cities before being entered into the Royal Mail network for last mile delivery.

Its new Docmail Local Post subsidiary responds to the needs of local businesses affected by recent postal rate increases at Royal Mail.

With an electric bike delivery service, it also helps companies cut their carbon emissions. The company says it achieves a 7g per letter improvement in carbon footprint compared to standard Royal Mail letter delivery.

Broadway said: “We were receiving feedback from existing customers that there was a gap in the market for a local service that took green issues seriously, and understood the need for more cost effective mail delivery.

“With the established structure of Radstock-based CFH, who are regulated postal operators, behind us, we knew this was a service we could provide.”