Royal Mail delivers a new blow to our Saturday post
ROYAL Mail has moved closer to scrapping the Saturday post after a watchdog cl ai med it would have little impact on the public.
Ofcom has claimed consumer needs ‘would still be met’ if letter deliveries are cut from six days per week to five, paving the way for the controversial change.
The announcement was seized upon by Royal Mail boss Keith Williams, who declared the firm needed to ‘move with the times’ to remain viable. But postal union chiefs have accused Royal Mail of trying to water down ‘a vital public service’.
Under its current ‘universal service obligation’, the formerly state- owned firm must deliver letters for a fixed price to every address in the country from Mondays to Saturdays.
But the company and Ofcom say this is no longer necessary because of the plummeting numbers of letters being sent and the large cost of providing the service. Earlier this month, Royal Mail revealed it now makes more money from parcels than letters – the first time it has done so in its 500-year history.
And yesterday Ofcom said cutting back the six-day service to five days could save the firm between £ 1 2 5 mill i on a nd £225million per year.
However, the watchdog also criticised Royal Mail and said it
had not done enough to modernise as far too much post is still being sorted by hand.
Ofcom’s networks and communications director Lindsey Fussell said: ‘Our research suggests that people’s needs would still be met if letter deliveries were reduced from six days a week to five.’
But the watchdog added the decision on changing the service was up to MPs.
Its study was based on a survey of 4,596 people and 971 businesses. Some 97 per cent of respondents said their needs ‘would still be met’ if letter deliveries were reduced to five days, Ofcom said.
Royal Mail temporarily cut its services at the start of the pandemic to reduce the strain on deliveries as staff fell ill.
It is not required to deliver parcels six days per week but has started doing so, with the company planning to extend this service to seven days due to the rise in internet shopping.
The postal giant officially begun working Sundays last week after it was awarded a multi-million pound contract to deliver Covid-19 home testing kits seven days a week.
Yesterday Mr Williams, Royal Mail’s executive chairman, wel
‘Move with the times’
comed Ofcom’s findings and claimed there was ‘a need to move with the times’.
He added: ‘To stay relevant, the universal service must adapt to life in the 21st century.’
But the Communication Workers Union, which fears job cuts if services are trimmed, said reducing deliveries would be ‘unforgivable’ and it will fight to ‘defend a vital public service’.