Tag: Royal Mail

Doubt cast over UK Royal Mail reliability

Posted by | Dec 1, 2005 | |

Post for millions of people is going missing or arriving damaged, according to a new survey that casts doubt over Royal Mail’s reliability. One quarter of householders surveyed by Which? magazine said at least one postal item sent to them was damaged and another item was lost in the past 12 months, while a further 34 per cent had experienced either lost or damaged mail. The figures, from a survey of 1,000 people carried out in September, flatly contradict Royal Mail’s claim to be delivering 99.9 per cent of items properly. In the run-up to Christmas, Britons are expected to spend far more ordering goods from the internet for delivery. The Royal Mail expects 70 million items to be delivered from the Web this Christmas, compared with 55 million last year. Postwatch, the postal watchdog, said the number of cases where customers had problems with the premium ‘special delivery’ service was ‘quite worrying’.

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Cover price rises inevitable – PPA UK

Posted by | Dec 1, 2005 | |

Consumer magazine price rises are “inevitable” if the removal of the cap on Royal Mail’s distribution charges goes ahead, warns the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA). The trade body says “time is running out” for it to persuade postal regulator Postcomm that it should not take away pricing controls on Royal Mail’s Presstream magazine delivery product. David Thomas, head of legal affairs at the PPA, claims that allowing the postal operator to set its own prices could result in huge cost hikes for publishers. He is also concerned by the lack of nationwide, competitive magazine distribution services being planned by entrants to the postal market, which will be opened to competition in January.

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UK Royal Mail price controls delayed

Posted by | Nov 29, 2005 | |

Postcomm, which had been due to publish the price controls for 2006-10 this month, rejected suggestions the delay until next week was due to rows with Royal Mail and the government. It said its work had been put back by the amount of material submitted during its consultation on the price control proposals.

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UK regulator ponders 39p first class post

Posted by | Nov 27, 2005 | |

A long-awaited review by Postcomm, the postal services regulator, that could see Royal Mail authorised to raise the price of a first class stamp from 30p to as high as 39p is expected to be published this week. The review will set out the terms on which Royal Mail is forced to face open competition when its 300-year-old monopoly ends in January. Alan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, wants to raise the price of a stamp to 39p. This would allow him to plug the pension deficit and to maintain the universal service obligation. Postcomm favours restricting the rise to 34p.

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Scottish MP warns PO closures will wreck communities

Posted by | Nov 24, 2005 | |

A warning was issued yesterday that the future of fragile rural communities could be at risk if the Government fails to pledge greater commitment to safeguarding sub-post offices. Allan Reid, Lib Dem MP for Argyll and Bute, is calling for a long-term promise of support for rural post offices. “We have already seen the Clydesdale Bank closing branches and, if the sub-post offices close as well, it’s going to kill a lot of villages, because usually the post office is combined with the local shop, so that will go as well. At the moment there is a guarantee against unavoidable closures of rural post offices, but that stops next year. “The Government has a package in place – a nationwide subsidy – to support local post offices, but that runs out in 2008 and I know that the future of local post offices, without a guarantee for their long-term future, is very bleak.” As well as committing to a long-term subsidy of rural post offices, the Government needs to allow small branches to deal with more transactions, such as vehicle taxation, he said.

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