Tag: UK

The volume of items sent annually through the post soared by five billion over the past decade, the Royal Mail said today.

Alcohol and food was one of the fastest growing sectors, with deliveries more than quadrupling between 1995 and 2005.

An upturn in home shopping meant clothing and shoe deliveries more than trebled over the 10 year period.

The Royal Mail said its “Life through the Letterbox” study gave a unique insight into Britain’s changing consumer habits.

Its data comes from “mail diaries” kept by 100,000 households over the course of a decade.

The Royal Mail said it delivered 22 billion items of post last year compared to 17 billion in 1995.

In the first study of its kind ever conducted, Royal Mail has delivered a unique insight into the nation’s social and consumer habits by analysing more than 20 million items of mail sent and received by UK households over a decade.

The ‘Life through the Letterbox’ study reveals the impact of changing demographics and social trends on the UK population and uncovers fundamental differences between the regions’ postbags.

Analysis of 40 different categories of mail received between 1995 and 2005 reveals, i.e.:
• The nation’s appetite for the good things in life resulted in deliveries of alcohol, food and hampers to homes in the UK increasing from 9.5 million to 39.7 million
• Sales of clothing and shoes were subdued on the High Street*, but home shopping boosted deliveries from 52.5 million to 173.5 million
• People were more likely to speculate to accumulate than a decade earlier, with mail regarding shares increased from 32 million to 40 million
• The DIY generation took to their gardens with gusto as deliveries of gardening equipment and plants soared from 24.8 million to 67.4 million
• Deliveries of sports equipment were up from 4.1 million to 11 million as efforts to stay active increased

Smaller businesses are concerned that changes to the Royal Mail’s postage rates this month will increase costs and mean more administration.
A survey by the Forum for Private Business, which represents about 25,000 small and medium-sized UK firms, has revealed that more than a quarter of the companies questioned believe their postage costs will rise by 15 per cent or more.
More than 60 per cent of companies think that not only will their costs increase but that they will have to spend longer on administration after the new size-related system is implemented on August 21.

The “pricing in proportion” scheme is the first significant move in Royal Mail’s strategy to become a competitive business after the industry was opened to competition at the beginning of this year.

The change to the post office’s pricing is costing Royal Mail more than pounds 20m, including pounds 10m spent on a marketing campaign.