Royal Mail have announced changes which will impact 2nd Class, Economy letters and Large Letters, basically meaning that there will no longer be a daily delivery and Saturday deliveries for these products will be scrapped.
Royal Mail have given retailers advance notice that 2nd Class, Economy letters and Large Letters will be delivered 5 days per week on alternate weekdays (Monday – Friday) from the 7th of July 2025 (or the date Ofcom agrees changes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) is this is later).
From current experience, I won’t even notice this change. Royal Mail are brilliant at delivering my parcels on time, but have consistently failed to deliver 1st Class letters on time to me and honestly they appear to treat them as 2nd Class anyway.
However, regardless how poor Royal Mail’s recent performance has been, this will doubtless impact ecommerce retailers, especially for low value goods shipped with economy services – large letters are the biggest likely impact.
Royal Mail say that they will phase this change in from the go-live date. Service speed for these services remains unchanged. This change reflects the Ofcom proposal to redefine the Universal Service Obligation to support the financial sustainability of the USO.
The changes will impact Business Mail, Subscription Mail, Publishing Mail, Advertising Mail including Catalogue Option Partially Addressed, Sustainable Mail and Response Services.
Delivery of First Class letters will remain unchanged.
