Scrapping letter deliveries on Saturdays could save Royal Mail hundreds of millions of pounds a year as it battles to stem ballooning losses and modernise

[Mr Rush]

The public might accept losing Saturday letter deliveries if that 17% reduction in service was matched by a 17% reduction in prices, First Class down from 95p to 79p and second Class from 68p to 57p. But several weeks from now we'll probably see First Class increasing to £1 or a guinea.

A fair compromise, but that isn't going to enrich the shareholders so it won't happen.

[Navalron]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... -loss.html

Group could see as much as £250m saved if deliveries cut to five days a week
It potentially could slash company's projected annual losses for this year
Saving could allow it to increase staff pay and lower stamp prices

Scrapping letter deliveries on Saturdays could save Royal Mail hundreds of millions of pounds a year as it battles to stem ballooning losses and modernise.

According to calculations seen by the Mail, the delivery group could see as much as £250m saved if deliveries were cut to five days a week, much higher than previous estimates of £125m-£225m made by the regulator Ofcom in 2020.

It potentially could slash the company's projected annual losses for this year, which are expected to be between £350m to £450m, by more than half.

Such a saving could also provide enough financial wiggle room to increase pay for its staff as well as lower stamp prices, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Royal Mail is currently legally required to deliver letters to every address in the UK six days a week under what is known as the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

But the company has been pushing for this to be cut to five days as the number of posted letters has fallen.

'It is clear that when letter volumes have declined by more than 60 per cent, to be financially sustainable the USO requires major reform now,' a Royal Mail spokesman said.

They added: 'This change is critical. Being required to provide a service that customers have said they no longer need, at significant structural cost to Royal Mail, increases the threat to the sustainability of the Universal Service.'

Royal Mail points to the 2020 Ofcom report which concluded reducing letter deliveries to five days a week would meet the needs of 97 per cent of users.

But the Government has refused to reduce the USO, with business minister Kevin Hollinrake saying in December there were 'no current plans' to allow any changes.

Any alterations to the USO would need to be made through legislation and agreed by Parliament.

Some publishing groups have also warned scrapping Saturday deliveries could have a catastrophic effect on magazine publishers, many of which send out new editions on Fridays and Saturdays.

The push to reduce comes as Royal Mail scrambles to become more competitive against the likes of Amazon.

But its plans have been hampered by a long-running pay dispute which saw thousands of posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year.

They will get Saturday's done away with for letters. And in the future it will be every other day. Sad but inevitable. Especially when the newer generations who have grown up with tech and have never posted a letter and more and more going on line for everything.

[SpacePhoenix]

They will get Saturday's done away with for letters. And in the future it will be every other day. Sad but inevitable. Especially when the newer generations who have grown up with tech and have never posted a letter and more and more going on line for everything.

If letters do go every other day then in MCs it'll probably mean all mech duties (IMP, iLSM, T2K & CSS) will likely be 09:00-17:00 with wave 2 going back to being all sequenced.

I'm guessing that in DOs anyone who's purely a "walker" will have to drop their hours down, the other possibility is that one day they do the odd numbered walks, the next the even number walks. Can't see how delivery of letters every other day can sustain "walkers" being on full time hours

[clashcityrocker]

The only way we can currently sustain "walkers" being on full time contracts is by having ever-increasing delivery spans.
It isn't sustainable with a 6 day USO.

[twoloops]

Yesterday Saturday all our office where called, over 100 posties, to the end of the office where the Dom was stood next to our union rep who said nothing & he announced that today due to absence & holidays & staff shortages he would be introducing 30 minutes extra to all deliveries & it will be claimed back with a later start times on Monday & Tuesday, it was greeted with boos & laughter I came back & clocked out @ my normal normal time as I was off to Bramall lane

[ted_e_bear]

Yesterday Saturday all our office where called, over 100 posties, to the end of the office where the Dom was stood next to our union rep who said nothing & he announced that today due to absence & holidays & staff shortages he would be introducing 30 minutes extra to all deliveries & it will be claimed back with a later start times on Monday & Tuesday, it was greeted with boos & laughter I came back & clocked out @ my normal normal time as I was off to Bramall lane

So adding 30 minutes per day to each delivery assuming you work 5 days = 2.5 hours per week so you'd have to start 1.25 hours later Mon/Tues to claim it back, can't see that working.