Streamlining processes with real-time solutions for post. Chris Smith. Blackbay
Streamlining processes with real-time solutions for post. Chris Smith. Blackbay
Read MoreTag: Europe
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City Link Post. Andrew Harden Andrew Harden-Sweetnam
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Read MoreRegulator considers five-day post service
Royal Mail could be allowed to cut deliveries from six to five days a week following a review by the postal regulator into the need for a six-day service in a competitive mail market.
The state-owned postal operator was allowed to end second daily deliveries three years ago to help restore profitability.
Now Postcomm, as part of a sweeping review of the future of regulation, is considering reducing compulsory deliveries to every home and workplace to five days a week. The regulator is also sympathetic to a request from Royal Mail to limit this universal service obligation to stamped letters and packages.
Sarah Chambers, Postcomm chief executive, told a conference in London on Monday that the current rules provided more of a “Rolls-Royce” universal service than elsewhere in Europe, where five days a week was standard.
The requirement to deliver post to the front door was another Rolls-Royce aspect of the universal service obligation, she added. In other European countries, post was often put in mailboxes at the entrance to a property or block of flats.
At the annual postal service conference organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Ms Chambers said that insisting on a Saturday delivery could lead to higher prices for other services.
Business users warned Friday and Saturday deliveries were important for direct marketing.
Read MoreDirect mail industry braced for postal chaos
The direct mail industry is expected to be hit by months of postal chaos following the Communications Workers Union’s decision to stage the first national strike in more than a decade.
Many of the UK’s top brands, including those operating in home shopping, financial services and charities, as well as heavyweight campaigns by TV rivals BSkyB and Virgin Media, are reliant on Royal Mail, not only for direct mail but also for transactional post.
The first day of action is planned for this Friday, and is expected to be followed by a strike next week and another on July 9.
Royal Mail has taken out press ads in several national newspapers to explain its position. The ad says: “A strike is the last thing we want. But the issue at the heart of this dispute is change. We believe that Royal Mail has no alternative but to change and modernise, which all our major rivals did years ago.”
The dispute centres around a 2.5% pay offer and plans by Royal Mail to modernise its network by bringing in more automated sorting equipment. This will result in the workforce being cut by 40,000. Workers voted 70% in favour of a strike.
It will also hit private operators – which have secured huge swathes of Royal Mail business since privatisation – as they rely on postal workers to deliver their mail for the so-called “final mile”. Both parties are due to restart talks.
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