Tag: Royal Mail

Clients are getting to grips with Royal Mail’s new mail pricing regime, pricing in proportion (PiP), as the industry enters its first full month under the new rules, but remain concerned about their effect on creativity.

Speaking to Marketing Direct just before size-based pricing was introduced, industry figures said that despite months of preparation, their main concern was the standardisation of mail packs and the prospect of lower response rates.

Andrew Jones, head of direct marketing at the Royal British Legion, said the changes posed a creative and financial challenge. The charity’s annual Remembrance Cross mailing is now classed as a larger letter owing to its thickness.

“We know it works well so we’ve just had to accept the increase in price,” said Jones. “It’s a small increase per pack but, when you’re working with charity direct mail, every cost is important.” He added that the extra postage costs would eat into the legion’s income.

Iain Clarke, creative services director at Hicklin Slade & Partners, whose clients include Honda, said the new pricing formats would restrict creativity. Honda’s standard welcome pack, for example, is currently mailed in a large box. Clarke said that if another one is produced, it is likely to use a new format.

“Honda’s creative philosophy is ‘the power of dreams’, which is about doing what others wouldn’t do. PiP seems to fly in the face of that,” Clarke said.

Royal Mail is promoting the changes as a creative opportunity. According to Antony Miller, head of media development at Royal Mail, PiP brings mail into line with other media, citing 20-second TV spots and newspaper pages as constraints that other industries work within successfully.

“You can have any shape within the (new) boundaries, in the same way you can within other media,” he said.

Postal chiefs in Scotland were last night delighted by figures which show Royal Mail is beating its targets for next-day delivery of first-class letters.
Official independent figures for April to June this year reveal that Royal Mail exceeded the postcode area targets of 91.5% for next-day delivered first-class mail, which is set by postal regulator Postcomm, in all 13 mainland postcode areas.
Scotland has 16 postcode areas but Orkney, Shetland and Hebrides are exempt from the regulator’s target because of their geographical remoteness.

Royal Mail has been accused of cynically manipulating customers by claiming they might not receive vital information if they opt out of junk mail.

Householders wanting to end the mountains of unsolicited letters that land on the doormat are being warned they risk missing important notices from local and central government.

These could include public health warnings such as how to deal with an outbreak of bird flu or Home Office advice about terrorist threats.

But yesterday the independent consumer body Postwatch described the threat – which angry customers say is blackmail – as ‘completely untrue’.

The revelation caused further anger yesterday. Labour MP Stephen Pound accused Royal Mail of effectively blackmailing customers to protect its lucrative junk mail business – last year it delivered 3.3billion items and the amount is rising.
Royal Mail has launched an email address – [email protected] – in addition to posted requests from customers to end junk mail deliveries.

But yesterday it was still warning callers to its telephone hotline that they would not receive ‘any unaddressed mail’ if they sent in the form.

ROYAL Mail is urging more small businesses who use postage meters to take advantage of a GBP 30 million discount by resetting meters to reflect a price reduction, following the introduction of the new pricing system.
As part of the new pricing structure, the price of 1st class post for meter users has been reduced by 1p and now costs 30p, rather than the previous price of 31p or the 32p for stamped mail. To take advantage of the discount, all customers need to do is reset their machines.

Royal Mail’s Lorna Clarkson said: “We always remind users to reset their meters when there is a tariff change, and this time is particularly important if business customers are to get a share in the GBP 30 million price reduction.”

While it is important that all businesses check their meters have been reset, it is particularly important for smaller businesses that use manual franking machines.

The reduction is in recognition that business post costs Royal Mail less to handle and is on top of the 1p discount given to business mail as part of tariff changes in April 2005.

Under the new pricing system Royal Mail is giving businesses a “double whammy” of price reductions, with an increase in the weight limit from 60g to 100g, so customers can send more for less.