Ofcom has today published a decision on regulating a new set of wholesale access services that Royal Mail has launched. : The new 'D+5 Letters access services'

[POSTMAN]

Ofcom has today published a decision on regulating a new set of wholesale access services that Royal Mail has launched.

Royal Mail’s wholesale customers include other postal operators – such as Whistl and UK Mail – that pay to access Royal Mail’s delivery network. These access operators collect and sort business letters (known as ‘bulk mail’) from large organisations – such as bank statements, utility bills and advertising mail – before handing them over to Royal Mail for delivery.

On 4 January 2021, Royal Mail introduced new services for its wholesale customers that will give them the option of a cheaper, slower delivery service. The new “D+5 Letters access services” defers the mail until there is another item already being delivered to the recipient’s address, up to a maximum of four days after it enters the network. This is a cheaper option than the current regulated “D+2 access services”, where mail is delivered the next working day after it enters the network.

We have extended the regulations that currently apply to ‘D+2’ services to also cover the new ‘D+5’ services. This means Royal Mail will, among other things, be required to provide this new service on fair and reasonable terms, comply with a margin squeeze control and ensure quality of service.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations- ... -condition

Access mail is the main form of competition in the letters market in the UK and is facilitated by access to Royal Mail’s postal network. This means other bulk mail providers collect mail from businesses and other organisations, sort it, and then insert it into Royal Mail’s network for delivery.

Access to Royal Mail’s postal network is currently regulated by Ofcom via the Universal Service Provider Access condition. The current USPA condition requires that Royal Mail provides services that are delivered within two working days from the sender posting and includes a margin squeeze control as well as other ancillary access obligations. Mandated D+2 access services ensure that, once an access item enters Royal Mail’s network, Royal Mail delivers that item to the recipient the next working day.

On 4 January 2021, Royal Mail introduced a new suite of access services. The new services defer the mail until there is another item already being delivered to the recipient’s address, subject to a maximum of four working days after it enters the network. We expect that these services will become important for access operators and could account for a material proportion of access volumes in the future. Consequently, we anticipate that D+5 Letters access services will become important in maintaining effective competition in bulk mail services, promoting efficiency within Royal Mail’s delivery operations and delivering benefits to users of postal services.

In November 2020, we published a consultation proposing to bring the new services within the scope of the USPA condition. This statement sets out our decision, following that consultation.

More at the link

[SpacePhoenix]

Reading through that makes me wonder if DSA processing in MCs will move onto night shifts.

Still can't see it working with the mech as you won't know if a DP has any mail until the inward mail has been run and by that time the DSA will just end up going manual to the DOs as there won't be the time to run it