Risk to universal postal service news digest

The future of the universal postal service could be under threat from rules that give circumstances under which Royal Mail would not have to deliver post to every home, Postwatch has warned. The consumer watchdog yesterday said proposals made by regulator Postcomm may give Royal Mail an opportunity “to reduce costs by reducing the number of deliveries to remote spots”. It called for a more precise definition of remote addresses where Royal Mail will not be expected to deliver to the door every day.

Under the regulator’s new “15-minute rule”, if it takes a postman more than 15 minutes for the round trip from the public road to reach the address, on foot or by vehicle, Royal Mail will not have to deliver to the premises. But it will have to agree an alternative delivery point. Marianne Brun-Rovet.