Royal Mail hits Second Class, misses First Class delivery target
Royal Mail has said it exceeded its Second Class mail and standard retail parcels quality targets in the April to June period with the overwhelming majority of all mail delivered on or ahead of target. The company delivered 98.6% of Second Class mail three working days after posting, beating the 98.5% target, according to independent research. Standard Retail Parcels beat its 90.0% target of delivery within three working days with a 97.1% performance.
92.9% of First Class mail was delivered next working day, against a target of 93%.
The First Class mail target now includes single piece pre-paid items as well as stamped and metered mail, as a result of the new regulatory framework introduced by regulator Ofcom in April 2012.
The performance was delivered as Royal Mail continues to modernise. This is one of the biggest transformation programmes underway anywhere in UK industry. New technology and better equipment is being deployed nationwide and the working practices of postmen and women are changing.
The latest independent figures are compiled by TNS based on over 133,000 sample letters, parcels and packets sent to over 5,700 addresses.
Mark Higson, Managing Director of Operations and Modernisation, said: “The UK has one of the highest and most challenging sets of quality targets in Europe. Our postmen and women have surpassed two of the three key quality targets and narrowly missed the third, against the backdrop of one of the biggest industrial transformation programmes ever undertaken in the UK.
“Our people’s jobs are changing, the process is difficult and we are all working hard to ensure Royal Mail delivers the service the public expects.”
The highest First Class stamped and metered mail delivered performance nationwide was in the Perth (PH) postcode where a 97.0% performance was achieved, with the Carlisle (CA) and Llandrindod Wells (LD) postcodes following closely behind with 96.7%.
