UK postal operator Royal Mail narrowly missed its First Class stamped mail target in the firsthalf-year of 2012 but Second Class mail and standard retail parcels were delivered on or ahead of
target.According to the latest Royal Mail quality of service report, 92.6% of First Class stamped andfranked (meter) mail was delivered on time which was just under the target of 93%, during the sixmonths from April to September 2012.
In contrast, the Standard parcels service comfortably exceeded its target with 96.7% of standardretail parcels delivered on time against a target of 90% during the first six months of 2012. ForSecond Class stamped and franked mail, 98.6% arrived on time within three working days of postingexceeding the targeted 98.5%.
During the second quarter, 98.6% of Second Class mail and 96.3% of standard retail parcels wereboth ahead of target. 92.2% of First Class mail was delivered the next working day afterposting.
The overall delivery performance was impacted by the Olympics and Paralympics in Londonpostcodes, by flooding caused by heavy rain in the North and West of the country in late June andearly July and by the ongoing impact of Royal Mail’s transformation programme.
Mark Higson, Managing Director of Operations and Modernisation, said: “Our postmen and womenwork extremely hard to deliver to some of the most demanding Quality of Service standards in thewhole of Europe. They are doing this against the backdrop of one of the largest transformationprogrammes in the UK.”
The figures of the independent report on performance are based on around 130,000 sample lettersand parcels sent to 5,400 addresses. The postal operator claims to have the highest quality ofservice targets of any major European country.
