Scotland set for privatised post trial
Britains first fully privatised door-to-door post service to rival the Royal Mail is to be trialled in Scotland.
Glasgow and Edinburgh have been chosen, along with Manchester, for an experiment which will give customers the choice of having collection, sorting and delivery carried out entirely in private hands.
The trial, to be conducted later this year by Royal Mail’s biggest rival, TNT, will see thousands of households visited by two postal workers and could pave the way for greater competition throughout the rest of Britain.
Watchdogs described the news as “tremendously exciting”, while business leaders welcomed the possibility of improved services. Edinburgh has the worst first-class delivery performance in Scotland, while Glasgow is third-worst.
Royal Mail, which is facing industrial action in a dispute over pay and job losses, insisted it was “not afraid of competition” and would “fight for every letter”. A spokeswoman said the arrival of TNT should make union members “wake up to the very real impact of strike action on business and therefore on jobs”.
The trial is the first major development since the postal market was deregulated on 1 January. Since then, Netherlands-based TNT has processed more than 60 million UK letters a month.
But private companies still use ordinary postal workers for final delivery of most items because only Royal Mail can provide a universal service to Britain’s 27 million households. Many firms use Royal Mail sorting facilities as well.
From later this year, TNT’s own postal workers will be able to collect, sort and deliver letters sent to addresses within Glasgow and Edinburgh. Charges have yet to be decided, but the scheme is likely to be more cost-effective for business customers, rather than domestic users posting single items.
TNT is in discussion with local authorities about delivery contracts, thought to involve bulk mail such as council tax bills.
A TNT spokeswoman said: “The plans are at an early stage, and even if the trial is successful it will be a long time before we can provide a comprehensive end-to-end service in other areas. Remember, the Royal Mail has a 350-year head start on us.”
Tricia Dow, of watchdog Postwatch Scotland, said: “This is tremendously exciting news. Scotland’s geography means that competition will not come to everyone overnight, but this is a step forward.”
Graham Birse, the deputy chairman of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “Royal Mail has made improvements to its service, but we welcome the arrival of any competition as a matter of principle.”
A Royal Mail spokeswoman said TNT was only interested in lucrative business-to-business deliveries. “We sort eight million items and deliver to two and a half million households in Scotland every day, so private operators have a long way to go to match our network.”
Speaking about the threat of a strike ballot, she added: “This underlines the fact that we can’t afford to have a dispute.”
