RMCtv : On 17 November, Royal Mail announced it has asked Government to move to five-day-a-week letter service (Monday to Friday), whilst it continues to improve parcel services.

[POSTMAN]

Industry Insight | Future proofing the Universal Service

Royal Mail asks Government to move to a five-day letter service

On 17 November, Royal Mail announced it has asked Government to move to five-day-a-week letter service (Monday to Friday), whilst it continues to improve parcel services. This requires a modest change to the law.

Letter volumes have been in steep decline for the past two decades as consumer needs change. In 2004/2005, Royal Mail delivered around 20 billion letters. This fell to eight billion in 2020/21. Current projections are that this will halve again over the next decade. Such a decline is not sustainable in the long term.

Royal Mail’s current financial position means that USO reform is now essential to maintaining an affordable, Universal Service. We are losing more than £1 million a day. Royal Mail is undergoing a major transformation process, but this will not be sufficient in itself to put the business back on track.

The company remains committed to the one-price-goes-anywhere letter and parcels service to every address across the country, but it is important to recognise that helping to secure a strong future for Royal Mail means securing a viable future for the USO, adapted to what consumers want today. Hence the request for change.

Ofcom’s research from 2020 shows that a five-day (Monday-Friday) letters service would meet the needs of 97% of consumers and SMEs. Our own research shows the same.

The Sunday Times recently issued a readers’ poll asking: Would it matter if the post was no longer delivered on Saturday? Of the 11,259 results entered*, 18 per cent said YES, 82 per cent said NO.
*The Sunday Times poll closed on Friday 6 January 2023.

Other countries have taken similar steps
La Poste, the French universal service provider, has announced a new reform which will see a dramatic shift to its First Class postal service.
La Poste customers can now only buy a green stamp at €1.16 that guarantees delivery within three working days when sending a letter in France. They can no longer buy a next-day delivery red stamp at €1.43 or a four-day delivery grey stamp at €1.14.
La Poste said the move away from next-day delivery was not only better for the environment (reducing the use of aircraft and lorries) but mirrored the trend in declining letters. According to a recent study, the average household in France is sending just five First Class letters in 2021, compared with 45 in 2010.
La Poste has also developed a new e-letter type system for correspondence that requires it to be delivered within 24 hours. At a cost of €1.49, the customer is instructed to write their letter on the La Poste website. It is then printed and put into an envelope at a post office near the recipient before being delivered.

France isn’t the only country to implement change. Postal authorities across Europe have executed various strategies to address the challenge of declining letter volumes, digitalisation, changing user needs and other financial pressures:

Norway: Delivery of Saturday mail discontinued in 2016; reduced letter speed from next day delivery to more than two in 2018. The latest change saw Posten, the Norwegian universal postal service, implement a reduction in the delivery frequency of letters from five days to two and half days per week in 2019.

Finland: For more than five years, Posti (Finnish postal service) has implemented a reduced delivery frequency in urban areas from five to three days.

Netherlands: In 2014, PostNL saw the discontinuation of Monday delivery for letter mail.

Denmark: For more than a decade, PostNord has continued to implement change in line with the falling letter volumes. Alternate day letter delivery (2009), next day delivery price increase (2010 – 2016) and parcels delivered five days a week / standard letters one day a week (2019).

[TopperGas]

It's almost as if the company is oblivious to the fact the Government have responded by saying that they have no intention of changing the USO.

Not sure what asking just 12,000 Sunday Times (website?) readers for their views proves, as I assume they are mainly middle class readers of working age who have no issues communicating via email.

[world class male]

i honestly think that the USO should be reduced to 5 and eventually 4 within a few years if properly managed,
unfortunately we cannot guarantee a 1 day full service per week as now without hook or crook and have folk delivering mail on sundays
all the euphoria of S 'f 'T losing it big time live on tv won't kill his dream of destroying this great institution, he knows it was an attack by pro working class MP's who had the chance to humiliate him, and did! but that is collateral damage to them, the tories aren't bothered and it will soon go away
i'm just bracing myself for another wave of 1 dimensional inept tactics by the CWU that has worked wonders so far!
heaven forbid the young healthy newer entrants who take a PT job on but need FT wages, whilst us older who can't manage an extra few hours walking lose money!
if they don't put a "action short of strike" in the ballot, then it's a no from me, i still wouldn't go against the majority but the CWU are so set in their ways it's embarrassing, why not at least put the option in the ballot? words fail me, it's like they too want the older guys out of the game, do they assume we are all mortgage free?

[Lounge Lizard]

i honestly think that the USO should be reduced to 5 and eventually 4 within a few years if properly managed,
unfortunately we cannot guarantee a 1 day full service per week as now without hook or crook and have folk delivering mail on sundays
all the euphoria of S 'f 'T losing it big time live on tv won't kill his dream of destroying this great institution, he knows it was an attack by pro working class MP's who had the chance to humiliate him, and did! but that is collateral damage to them, the tories aren't bothered and it will soon go away
i'm just bracing myself for another wave of 1 dimensional inept tactics by the CWU that has worked wonders so far!
heaven forbid the young healthy newer entrants who take a PT job on but need FT wages, whilst us older who can't manage an extra few hours walking lose money!
if they don't put a "action short of strike" in the ballot, then it's a no from me, i still wouldn't go against the majority but the CWU are so set in their ways it's embarrassing, why not at least put the option in the ballot? words fail me, it's like they too want the older guys out of the game, do they assume we are all mortgage free?

"the USO should be reduced to 5 and eventually 4 within a few years if properly managed" - but we all know "if properly managed" won't happen with Thompson in charge. If reduced from six to five then four days letters will still be delivered a day or two a week short of that each week ,

[world class male]

he won't be in charge by then, he will have had a lucrative pay off thus lowering our income even further, we are so dumb falling for the same old s**t CEO after CEO after CEO
this committee is only for show, nothing will come of it, they will still steamroll their plans regardless
done nearly 20 years and i can't/won't quit but a piece of me is wishing they would sack me because i'm an awkward tw@t with them and would love the drama after

[sindba]

In all honesty, the USO should be reduced to 5 day letters, 6 day parcels.

RM could do this profitably and efficiently if they got their heads together with the workforce (ie the CWU).

But they won't. Instead they want to crush the workforce until the pips squeek, just so they can squeeze a few more quid out of their cash cow.

[aiden01]

In all honesty, the USO should be reduced to 5 day letters, 6 day parcels.

RM could do this profitably and efficiently if they got their heads together with the workforce (ie the CWU).

But they won't. Instead they want to crush the workforce until the pips squeek, just so they can squeeze a few more quid out of their cash cow.

Rm want a 7 day parcel service.an before you say it parcels are not part of uso.

[yellowbelly]

Rm want a 7 day parcel service.an before you say it parcels are not part of uso.

Yes they are, currently 5 days, Mon-Fri.

[toonshola]

I strongly suspect the Government will rethink their rejection to this request when this years financial results are released. Royal Mail will be screaming the end is nigh and the Government will be terrified they might have to take the letters side back, it’s inevitable the Uso will be reduced to 5 days for letters and probably this year at some point.

[Clappedoutpostie]

I strongly suspect the Government will rethink their rejection to this request when this years financial results are released. Royal Mail will be screaming the end is nigh and the Government will be terrified they might have to take the letters side back, it’s inevitable the Uso will be reduced to 5 days for letters and probably this year at some point.

I fear this is probably the reason for their staged managed actions during the dispute. The question is though how on earth will these latest revisions cope with 6 days mail condensed into 5