Royal Mail meets “vast majority” of quality targets, misses First Class mail goal
Royal Mail says it exceeded its Second Class mail and standard retail parcels quality targets in the first half of the year, with the “vast majority” of all mail delivered on or ahead of target. But, the company narrowly missed its First Class target.
The company delivered 92.6% of First Class mail next working day, against a 93.0% requirement.
Some 98.6% of Second Class mail was delivered three working days after posting in the April to September period, beating the 98.5% target, according to independent research.
Standard retail parcels was ahead of the 90.0% target of delivery within three working days with a 96.7% performance.
In the second quarter of the year, 98.6 per cent of Second Class mail and 96.3 per cent of standard retail parcels were delivered on or ahead of target. 92.2 per cent of First Class mail was delivered the next working day after posting.
Royal Mail said it operates to a “very high specification”, collecting and delivering the mail six days a week and operating a nationwide road, rail and air network that delivers the working day after posting millions of First Class letters and parcels, many posted as late as 6.30pm the previous day and bound for destinations hundreds of miles away.
Overall performance was impacted by the Olympics and Paralympics in London postcodes, flooding caused by heavy rain in the North and West in late June and early July and the ongoing impact of Royal Mail’s transformation programme.
Mark Higson, managing director of operations and modernisation, said: “Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver to some of the most demanding Quality of Service standards in the whole of Europe. They are doing this against the backdrop of one of the largest transformation programmes in the UK.”
“Recognition and protection”
Commenting on the quality of service figures, the Communication Workers Union said they showed success within the public sector, “which deserves recognition and protection”.
“Postal workers have delivered these excellent quality of service results. This was against all the odds in some cases where flooding and the Olympics affected deliveries. Coupled with the strong financial results this month it shows the company does not need privatisation to deliver success,” said Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary.
“UK consumers enjoy one of the best postal services in Europe thanks to the universal service and high expected standards. We want these high standards of six days a week collections and deliveries to all addresses in the UK to remain.”
The CWU said it was planning to launch a new campaign on Tuesday to protect the universal service and “decent jobs within the postal industry”. The union is opposed to any privatisation of Royal Mail, which the government is still hoping to achieve in 2014.
Complaints
Consumer watchdog Consumer Focus welcomed the Royal Mail quality of service figures today, saying that the company had “performed well” although the First Class target had been missed by a “fraction” of one percent.
Robert Hammond, Director of Postal Policy at Consumer Focus said: “Given the considerable challenges posed by flooding in some areas caused by heavy rain and the disruption to London due to the Olympics these are pleasing figures.”
However, Consumer Focus said that within the figures, it appears that complaints about missed parcel deliveries were up.
In Quarter 2 of 2012, Royal Mail received 19,585 complaints about P739 cards compared to 8,732 for the same period last year. The watchdog said this could partly be explained by a 9% increase in parcel volumes, but Consumer Focus urged Royal Mail to continue its efforts to tackle these complaints through staff training and communication.
Hammond said: “Numbers of complaints about P739 cards, which are left with people if they are not home when the postman calls, have been falling steadily since 2010. However, the increase in the last quarter suggests this is an area in which Royal Mail needs to continue to pay attention.”
