Petition launched to maintain Royal Mail Saturday deliveries

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://apex-insight.com/petition-launc ... eliveries/

Amidst widely held rumours that Royal Mail is about to cut letter deliveries from six days a week to five, a public petition has been launched on the Change.org petition site calling for the universal service obligation to be maintained.

The petition calls for signatories saying, “Royal Mail needs to keep the six day a week letter (and other post) delivery, because it is a critical public service keeping the UK connected.” It points out that Christmas Eve 2022 will be on a Saturday, meaning the last date for delivering cards will be the 23rd December that year.

Late last month the main Royal Mail trades union the CWU released a statement calling on the UK government to oppose such a move. CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “At a time when postal services have never been more essential and we should be investing in our national infrastructure, we should be looking for ways to protect and enhance a six day universal postal service, not for reasons to cut it back.

“While letter volumes have continued to decline, there is huge demand for affordable high-quality parcel services that cover every part of the country and during the pandemic Royal Mail has handled over 90% of all Covid-19 testing kits.”

Royal Mail denies such plans to cut deliveries are in place, but the Guardian newspaper recently reported, postal regulator “Ofcom, which estimates the move could save Royal Mail £225m a year, said cutting Saturday deliveries would still allow the company to “meet the needs of nearly all people and businesses”.