Tag: UK

The competition consultation document issued on 28 June 2001 assesses a wide variety of options for giving customers the power to choose who provides their postal services and invites comments from operators, customers and consumer organisations. Their responses will be used to frame Postcomm’s proposals later this year for a new competitive regime.
Postcomm has simultaneously published a discussion document on the cost of providing the Universal Postal Service. Consignia’s data suggests that no universal service product type (i.e. First Class, Second Class mail) in aggregate is loss-making. There are loss-making elements within each product category, and the total cost of all these elements is about 1.5% of Consignia’s operating costs. But it would be difficult or impossible for Consignia to disentangle and discontinue any individual element. And Consignia derives considerable benefit from delivering a one-stop mail service with an easily understood tariff.

The postal regulator says it would be unrealistic and irresponsible to introduce wide-open competition to the country’s postal system, which faces a major shake-up in the first half of 2002. The comments came after the Postal Services Commission, set up to ensure a universal postal system, released a consultation document on promoting competition in postal services.