Royal Mail: Scottish parcel delivery improving with Delivery to Neighbour
Royal Mail Group has said its Delivery to Neighbour initiative is making it easier for people in Scotland to receive parcels, but commenting on concerns about surcharges for rural addresses, it said rates were “reflective” of costs of operating in the area. The company was part of a special parcel summit convened by Consumer Focus Scotland last Friday in Inverness, looking at public dissatisfaction with collection access for Scottish households and parcel surcharges.
Royal Mail, which offers a universal one-price-goes-anywhere, without surcharges, for a range of parcels weighing up to 20kg, told Post&Parcel yesterday that it is “investing heavily” in its parcels business at the moment.
The company is investing GBP 59m over three years in Scotland as it deals with more and more parcels thanks to the home delivery boom.
Spokesperson Jennifer Bird said: “This programme recognizes the changing nature of the postbag, with the volume of letters declining and parcel numbers showing a significant increase.
“Our investment includes provision of more vanes, delivery trolleys and PDA devices to assist our postmen and women with quick and efficient delivery of parcels.”
Friday’s parcel summit discussed survey findings issued by Consumer Focus Scotland back in August, which suggested nearly a third of people in Scotland have difficulties picking up their parcels.
Royal Mail launched its Delivery to Neighbour initiative in October, for the first time allowing postmen and women to leave parcels with recipients’ neighbours if they are not at home to collect them, excepting Special Delivery items or international items requiring a signature. Other parcel carriers in the private sector have long been able to leave items with neighbours, and find “massive acceptance” among the British public for such an option.
Bird said Royal Mail offers free redelivery for customers if they are not home to receive their packages, to their address or another location in the same post code area.
But she added: “Our Delivery to Neighbour initiative, which was launched across the UK in October is making it easier for people who are out when Royal Mail delivers items that are too large to go through the letterbox or require a signature.”
Surcharges
High surcharges faced by parcel recipients in Scotland was also a key topic at Friday’s summit. Royal Mail does not use surcharges on its own universal parcel services.
But the Royal Mail Group spokesperson said Parcelforce Worldwide, Royal Mail Group’s specialist parcel subsidiary operating outside the one-price-goes-everywhere universal service obligation, has some of the lowest surcharges in Scotland.
“Parcelforce Worldwide operate in the fiercely competitive express parcels market and all our prices are set to enable us to compete in this marketplace. Our surcharges to the Highlands and the Islands are reflective of the additional costs of operating in the area,” said Bird.
“Unlike many carriers we do not surcharge for items being sent from the Highlands to the Islands. There are no surcharges for parcels posted and received within mainland Scotland. There is also no extra cost to customers using Parcelforce Worldwide services through post office branches.”
The Royal Mail Group spokesperson added: “Parcelforce Worldwide welcomes the work being carried out within the Highlands and Islands and we continually review both our pricing policy and our methods of delivery.”
Consumer Focus Scotland said this week it was hoping to bring more parcel carriers into its process to improve delivery services in Scotland, and potentially bring the issues to Parliament with another summit close to Holyrood.
