The British postal regulator, Postcomm, has launched a consultation on Royal Mail’s collection anddelivery times to establish whether customers’ needs remain sufficiently protected at a time when
Royal Mail’s practices are changing.Most post is collected and delivered by Royal Mail, whose Universal Service Obligation meansit must make at least one collection from every post box and at least one delivery to every home orbusiness premises every working day. However, Royal Mail is not obliged to specify the times bywhich these collections and deliveries should be made.
Postcomm is reacting to concerns over Royal Mail bringing forward final collection times fromsome post boxes, particularly in rural areas. In some cases, final collections in rural areas arenow made as early as 9am. Also, following Royal Mail’s decision to implement a single dailydelivery, most mail is being delivered later in the day. This has led to some instances where thedaily delivery is now being made after the final mail collection.
Postcomm wants to establish whether these changes have caused problems, and, if so, whethercustomers would be willing to pay more for better collection and/or delivery times. The responsesto this consultation will be combined with a wide-reaching market research exercise that is beingcarried out on behalf of Postcomm, Postwatch and Royal Mail, plus costing information from RoyalMail. All this information will help Postcomm decide whether a more formal approach to collectionand delivery times is necessary.
Nigel Stapleton, chairman of Postcomm, said: “It’s very important that customers use thisopportunity to tell us how recent changes to their collection and delivery times are affectingthem. By making earlier collections and delivering mail later in the day, for instance, Royal Mailmay be giving itself more time to deliver first class mail the next day. Whilst this helps thecompany meet its quality of service targets, if it is not meeting the reasonable needs of customersPostcomm must consider what action to take.
“Postcomm has a duty to protect the needs and interests of all mail users, especially peoplein rural areas and those who are blind or partially sighted, elderly, chronically sick or disabled.Early collections could have adverse effects on these mail users’ ability to communicate by postand on the future health of the mail market. We are pleased that Postwatch and Royal Mail will beworking closely with Postcomm on this project.”
