Postcomm today (1 March 2005) began a 30-day consultation on the proposed issue of a long term licence to Racer Consultancy Management Services Ltd, to provide bulk mail, consolidation and tracked business-to-business services.
Read MoreOn 29 November 2004 Postwatch recommended to customers that they use 2nd class stamps at Christmas because the 1st class service performance had dipped significantly in the previous two years to less than 70 per cent delivered next working day. At the time we called upon Royal Mail to publish its Christmas performance levels so that customers would be able to make an informed purchase. Royal Mail has now published on its website performance figures for the 2004 Christmas period. In line with previous years these show that the 1st class performance over the Christmas period was 66.1 per cent delivered next day (compared with a target of 92.5 per cent). 2nd class performance was 93.9 per cent delivered within 3 days (compared with a target of 98.5 per cent). Commenting on Royal Mail’s Christmas performance, Peter Carr, Chairman of
Postwatch said: “The Royal Mail’s own performance statistics vindicate the
advice we gave customers. The value for money option at Christmas is to use
2nd class stamps at a saving of 7 pence per item.
Royal Mail has today published in a low-key manner via its website its performance statistics for the quarter (October to December 2004). The service standard targets are cumulative for the year. The cumulative statistics for the first three quarters of 2004/05 show that performance against 13 of the 15 service standards is below target. Based on these statistics Postwatch predicts that Royal Mail will for the year as a whole fail possibly 12 of its 15 service targets, including that for 1st class stamped and metered, Special Deliveries and the Standard Retail Parcel. It is recognised that failing 12 standards will be an improvement on last year when all 15 targets were failed. Peter Carr, Chairman of Postwatch, commenting on Royal Mail’s performance said: “Whilst we are pleased that recent performance is on an upward trend, the results that matter continue to disappoint. Yet again, customers have paid for service levels that have not been delivered.
Read MoreVillage post offices need to provide more services if the rural network is to survive, according to leading figures in the industry.
While this could include serving as the village shop and bank, it could also include police and council services for which the government should pay, they argue.
Rural post offices are threatened by the same long-term trends undermining other village businesses: migration to urban areas and a shift to supermarket shopping.
But the 8,100 remaining rural offices, most of which are privately-owned and operated, have also been hit by the introduction of direct payment of pensions and benefits into bank accounts. This business used to ensure a steady flow of customers to smaller post offices, to whom the postmasters or mistresses hoped to sell other goods and services. But Postcomm, the regulator, estimates only one in 10 rural post offices are now profitable.
Read MoreA report due out today will criticise the government and Royal Mail for not doing more to secure the future of the loss-making post office network.
Smaller post offices, or sub-post offices, are privately owned but in rural areas are supported by a Pounds 150m annual subsidy – the social network payment – from the Department of Trade and Industry. This is designed to limit branch closures in rural areas but is due to end in 2008.
The number of urban sub-post offices will have fallen by up to 3,000 by the end of this year – the Post Office claims there was over-capacity – and the DTI is spending up to Pounds 210m on redundancy payments and the refurbishment of the remaining branches.
Read More
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