TNT Post and Royal Mail extend Scottish public service deals

The Scottish Government has renewed its public sector mail services contracts with TNT Post UK and Royal Mail. The contracts, awarded for the second time in succession, take effect from the 1st March.

Royal Mail will continue providing mail services for planned mailings, in which mail will be printed off site, then sorted for delivery.

TNT Post has been awarded a three to four year contract by public procurement agency Scottish Procurement to provide “ad hoc” mail services for Scottish public sector organisations and also to introduce a hybrid mail service.

TNT Post, part of Dutch postal company PostNL, will collect physical mail from Scottish public sector organisations in either a two-day service (TNT Post’s 2nd class service) or, for addresses in the central belt of Scotland, a next-day service via TNT Post’s FirstSort option.

The hybrid mail service will allow Scottish public sector organisations to produce their mailpieces digitally on their desktop computers, before sending the information electronically to the TNT Post production site in Coatbridge, Glasgow, to be turned into a physical mailpiece.

TNT Post will pass mail on to Royal Mail for the final mile delivery.

Scottish Procurement said of the hybrid mail contract: “Hybrid mail achieves environmental benefits, it will also reduce expenditure on stationery whilst ensuring that the most optimum tariff through TNT Post is achieved.”

TNT Post said the new contract would extend its mail services across more areas of the public sector in Scotland, to include housing associations, charities and universities or colleges as well as NHS Scotland, municipal and national authorities.

It will include transactional mail and items like NHS appointment letters.

The company said on the contract now coming to an end, which has been in place since 2009, the Scottish public sector had already saved GBP 3.5m on mail services.

The hybrid mail service offers the potential of saving more than 60% on postal costs, said TNT Post, as well as reducing the time that mail spends in the customers’ own mailroom.

Commenting on the contract win, TNT Post UK chief executive Nick Wells said: “We are delighted to win this contract for a second time with an expanded remit. Our proven service quality combined with cost saving won the day and with the addition of hybrid post, we look forward to strengthening our partnership with the public sector in Scotland.”