Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail has called for more freedom to set stamp prices, especially for bulk business mail, to enable it to better compete with private sector groups entering the UK postal market. The state-owned group was responding to proposals by regulator Postcomm to liberalise fully the UK postal market by January 2006, more than a year earlier than planned. About 30% of the postal market has been open since April last year, meaning that private sector companies can now offer bulk mail services consisting of more than 4,000 letters. A further 30% of the market was to be opened by April next year, with full liberalisation by April 2007. But Postcomm is now suggesting the middle stage be scrapped and competition brought in to all parts of the postal market by January 2006. Royal Mail said the market should be opened sooner but only if pricing restrictions were removed.

Royal Mail’s Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, today encouraged the early opening of the mail market provided the regulations which stop Royal Mail competing are removed. “Customers should have a proper choice. Royal Mail believes the market should be opened faster than originally planned as long as restrictions on Royal Mail are removed,” he said. “I am very confident that Royal Mail’s people can succeed in a competitive market. They are more than capable of delivering high quality service to customers. “But the handcuffs have got to come off. Royal Mail wants to see simple, light-touch regulation allowing the company to make an acceptable rate of return on its turnover. Some of our biggest rivals, including the German and Dutch postal businesses, are making returns of more than 20% compared to Royal Mail’s 2.5% return on its day-to-day operations from the turnover in its letters business in the last financial year.”