Tag: Royal Mail

The biggest shake-up in Britain’s postal service for more than 165 years has ‘the makings of a mega-disaster’, consumer groups will warn today.

In just three weeks’ time, new rules will affect the price of approximately one in five items sent in the post with a stamp.

For the first time, people sending anything through the post will have to think about the size and thickness, not just the weight.

This week the Royal Mail will begin the biggest-ever mailout with letters about the new ‘Pricing in Proportion’ going to the UK’s 27 million addresses.

Earlier this month, a GBP10 million TV and newspaper advertising campaign began trying to explain the changes to millions of people who know nothing about them.

There will now be three types of mail – a letter, a large letter and a packet.

A letter must weigh less than 100g; be less than 5mm thick; and the size must not exceed 240mm x 165mm. If so, it will still cost the price of a standard first or second class stamp.

A large letter must weigh less than 750g; be less than 25mm thick; and the size must not exceed 353mmx250mm. If so, it will cost from 44p up to GBP1.31 to send first-class.

Anything bigger is a packet and will cost from GBP1 if sent first-class.

When I go on holiday in ten days’ time I think I will have to take the back door key with me. After a fortnight away I certainly won’t be able to count on being able to push the front door open.
If you thought the piles of junk mail on your doormat were bad enough, they are just about to get ten times higher. Last week the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers’ Union agreed a deal that will see the floodgates open. Postmen were promised a 3.9 per cent rise in wages, and in return agreed to carry much greater quantities of blank, unaddressed mail.

Post Office® research has found that if everyone in the UK who has credit card payment protection made two simple phone calls they could collectively save a staggering GBP405 million a year.

The Post Office® estimates that there are 10 million credit cards with payment protection in the UK2 and customers are currently spending GBP810 million annually protecting them – GBP405 million more than they need to.

The Post Office® is urging people not to automatically take cover with their credit card provider but look at other products available. For example, by switching to Lifestyle Protection from the Post Office®, a typical credit card customer with a balance of GBP5,000 would save themselves GBP17.00 a month or over GBP200 a year.

The threat of the first national postal strike in a decade was lifted yesterday after agreement was reached between Royal Mail and the Communications Workers’ Union over the 2006 pay rise.

The union accepted the 2.9 per cent rise imposed by the management in May with additional cash and pledges about job security and pension rights.

In return, it lifted the threat of a strike ballot and made concessions on working practices that will help Royal Mail to compete in the increasingly tough postal services market.

However, there is still no agreement on the scheme to hand 20 per cent of Royal Mail shares to staff through an employee trust. Allan Leighton, group chairman, sees giving the staff a stake in the business as essential to win their support for restructuring and modernisation that will involve changes in working practices and the loss of jobs.

Union leaders have clinched a “groundbreaking” pay deal for 160,000 postal workers.

The agreement – worth an extra pounds 14 a week – lifts the threat of the first national post strike for a decade. It includes a 2.9 per cent wage rise imposed by Royal Mail in April. But workers will also receive an extra one per cent as a result of cost savings.

Crucially, bosses have extended this arrangement, which rewards staff with 40 per cent of any efficiencies, until April. That could put another pounds 120million – around six per cent – in pay packets.