Tag: Royal Mail

Post rivals urge watchdog to bare teeth over Royal Mail privileges

Posted by | Mar 16, 2008 | |

Private postal operators are calling on the Government to take a “brave” decision to end Royal Mail’s monopoly on large parts of the market as it considers the future of Britain’s mail services.

Operators including TNT Post and DX, which employs a fleet of private sector postmen in Scotland, are pressing the Government to end the special privileges afforded to Royal Mail, such as VAT exemption, which they say prevent equal competition.

As the regulator PostComm considers responses to a consultation on the future of postal services, which closed on Friday, the operators are urging Sir Nigel Stapleton, PostComm’s chairman, to take a brave stance. They hope the PostComm inquiry will set the tone for a wider review by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which is due to report this summer.

James Greenbury, chief executive of DX, said: “The first decision PostComm and the BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform] have to take is to actually take a position on Royal Mail. Our view is that Royal Mail is an institution left over from the 1970s. It has a number of advantages over all of the competition which have to be levelled out. They don’t have to charge VAT and we do. It takes out 40% of the market.”

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post, said: “We need a level playing field. The market is still overshadowed by VAT distortion which closes off 40% of mail volumes to competitors.”

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Royal Mail special delivery prices to go up (UK)

Posted by | Mar 14, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is to make changes to it’s Special Delivery service by reducing the insurance cover to GBP 500 maximum and introduce a Special Delivery High Value service for items of higher value.

Postcomm has responded to Royal Mail’s request that it be allowed to modify it’s current Special Delivery Next Day service by introducing a new ‘high value’ service and lowering the maximum compensation value on standard Secial Delivery items from GBP 2500 to GBP 500. The request was initially centered around the transit of jewellery items but has now been modified to appease concerns raised by Postcomm and others.

Postcomm organised a consultation based on the original proposal and 318 responses were received which included concerns from jewellery suppliers, the British Hallmarking Council, foreign exhanges suppliers, and even QVC the TV shopping channel. The biggest response was from those involved in the sale and supply of jewellery who felt that being forced into using the SDHV service would be costly and discriminatory.

The original application was made in 2006/7 and included a request to increase SDND from GBP 4.10 to GBP 8.90 but concerns by the jewellery industry that items requiring reworking and therefore posting numerous times would simply become unprofitable.

Royal Mail’s proposal that a Special Delivery High Value (SDHV) service be introduced that would still have the GBP 2500 compensation protection but a delivery target of 3pm, also raised concerns over postal workers safety in transporting such goods. Postcomm also felt that singling out jewellery would be unfair as other goods of similar value would effectively be on a cheaper tariff so Royal Mail was asked to look again at their proposal and come up with a less discriminatory scheme.

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Royal Mail's Special Delivery Next Day service – Postcomm's decision

Posted by | Mar 13, 2008 | |

In January 2008, Royal Mail made an application to Postcomm to limit the compensation available with the Special Delivery Next Day service, and included with that application a statement of agreement from Postwatch.

The document published today – Royal Mail’s proposed changes to its Special Delivery Next Day service. Postcomm’s decision (pdf, 77KB) – closes the consultation that Postcomm undertook in 2006 and sets out the regulator’s decision on Royal Mail’s 2008 application

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