A ROW has broken out between the UK’s magazine industry and the Royal Mail over new postal charges which, it is claimed, could lead to the closure of a large number of magazines.
The magazine industry says the Royal Mail could lose up to £50 million in revenues, money that its parent company Consignia, which will this week announce huge losses, can ill-afford to forgo.
The Direct Marketing Association and leading agencies have attacked Royal Mail for proposed changes to the pricing system for business mail postal rates. Royal Mail is currently in a consultation period over the proposed changes that would see new charges being based on the size of mailings rather than weight.
Read MoreRoyal Mail confirmed yesterday that it is to shed about 17,000 jobs over the next two years as it shakes up the way post is delivered in an effort to return to profitability. Consignia wants urban deliveries to be made by teams of between three and five postal workers operating from a van in bursts of 15 to 20 minutes each. The scheme would see postal deliveries taking four hours rather than the 2.5-hour norm.
Read MoreA record 72 million items of mail were posted last year with addresses which were incomplete, inaccurate, illegible, or left off altogether, the Post Office revealed today. The amount of so-called “undeliverable” mail increased by 18% last year.
Read MoreRoyal Mail has now been delivering nine out ten First Class letters the next working day after posting for nine consecutive months, Consignia said today. The company announced that Royal Mail’s First Class mail quality of service result for February and March was 91.6 per cent against a licence target of 92.1 per cent. Second Class mail achieved 98.9 per cent, exceeding its target by 0.4 per cent and Special Delivery – Royal Mail’s guaranteed service – achieved 99.1 per cent, just ahead of target.
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