Royal Mail beat its First and Second Class quality targets during the summer months, according toits latest service report.
Business bulk mail also achieved its targets along with Standard parcels and EuropeanInternational Mail during the three-month period from June 6, 2011 to September 4, 2011, theBritish postal operator announced. The figures are based on test deliveries of more than 245,000sample letters, parcels and packets sent to nearly 6,000 addresses.
First Class letters beat the 93.0% target for next-working-day delivery with a 93.2%performance during the three-month period. Second Class letters exceeded the 98.5% target fordelivery within three working days with a 98.7% performance. A total of 43 of the 121 postcodeareas nationwide had a First Class performance at 94.0% or above and 14 were at or above 95.0%.However, 14 of the 118 postcode areas were below the minimum 91.5% First Class performance. RoyalMail said it is doing all it can to lift the unacceptable performance in these areas.
Overall, Royal Mail said it hit or exceeded eight of its 12 service targets. It narrowlymissed its targets by a few hundreds of one percentage point for the numbers of collection pointsand delivery routes completed each day, in part because of disruption in the wake of riots whichaffected a number of areas in August. The Special Delivery service narrowly missed its 99.0% targetwith a 98.8% performance. A total of 104 out of 118 postcode areas hit their minimum serviceperformance for First Class. The Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland are excluded because of theirremoteness. The target for mail correctly delivered was exceeded.
Targets apply over a 12-month period excluding the Christmas period. Although the performancein the summer months showed a significant improvement on the first quarter results, the companyrecognises the demanding task it still faces to hit its targets on an annual basis. Cumulatively,some key services are below-target at the half-way point in the financial year. It will bechallenging to hit all targets over the full year given the scale of Royal Mail’s modernisationprogramme, one of the largest of its kind in UK industry. Royal Mail is not stopping any part ofits service for even a day while these major changes are implemented.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s Managing Director for Operations and Modernisation, said: “Theseperformance figures reflect the hard work and dedication of our employees as Royal Mail pressesahead with one of the biggest transformation programmes in UK industry. The maximum period ofchange is now underway.
“The jobs of more than 100,000 postmen and women are changing, we’re giving them betterequipment to take the weight off their backs of higher packet and parcel volumes, and large amountsof new technology are being deployed. We remain determined, however, to complete our transformationwhile delivering the highest possible quality service to all our customers.”
Higson added: “While the operational changes we are making to modernise the business arebeing implemented in many areas without any impact on customer service, we do recognise that insome localities there has been an adverse impact on customers. We are working through anydifficulties in particular places and doing all we can to ensure changes are made at all times withthe least possible impact on customers.”
