Fears at Royal Mail move to charge more in rural areas

Royal Mail’s plans to charge more for bulk business mail in rural areas were condemned by politicians yesterday.
The Universal Service Obligation requires the Post Office to deliver mail at the same price regardless of where you live in the UK. But now Royal Mail insists that no other country in the EU is opening its postal markets to competition in the same way as Britain. It says that its commercial rivals in the UK would handle around 2.5 billion letters this year, well ahead of expectations and equivalent to 25% of bulk business mail.
Royal Mail is seeking permission for a new zonal system of pricing which would allow it to charge more for bulk business mail in rural areas. Danny Alexander, LibDem MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: “If permission is given for this proposal to go ahead, then businesses and consumers in the Highlands will pay the price. Local businesses will pay more and it may well be that some firms will try to extra charges will be passed on to Highland consumers too.”
Dave Thompson, SNP candidate for Ross, Skye and Inverness West, said the USO was an important safeguard for rural areas.