Royal Mail proposes every other day second-class delivery, as part of its efforts to cut costs
Royal Mail has made a new submission to Ofcom planning to cut second-class delivery to two or three times a week in a bid to cut costs while adding that it would keep the current six-day-a-week service for first-class letters – an improvement on previously-mooted plans to have all Saturday deliveries scrapped.
Royal Mail claims its latest plans would save it up to £300m each year, and admits there would be job losses but predicts “fewer than 1,000” voluntary redundancies would result with no compulsory cuts.
The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has been a prominent voice in the mainstream media over the last week, submitting an 25-page industry response to Ofcom’s consultation stating: “We believe the proposal of simultaneous significant price rises and service reductions will just unnecessarily accelerate British postal decline, trapping the country in a doom-spiral of increasingly-frequent requests for further bailouts or reviews.”
David Byk, ceo at Ling Design and GBCC and one of the GCA council members heavily involved in the submission to Ofcom, told StationeryNews’ sister site, PGBuzz what he thought of Royal Mail’s new proposals: “It shows how inefficient and unbelievable they are if they say these reforms are only going to take out 1,000 workers. The Communication Workers’ Union can’t believe this, nor can the share price.
“They’re suggesting stopping second-class deliveries on a Saturday, reducing second class to only two times per week, not disclosing cost of first class so possibly putting it beyond everyone’s means so reducing demand for letters and effectively considering them as parcels, and only having letters delivered when there’s more than one to go to each house so urgent post may never arrive.”
During Ofcom’s consultation period, Dinah Johnson, founder of the Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society, bombarded Royal Mail with postcards to its Freepost address lamenting the proposals of cutting back the service.
Dinah told The Times in an interview on Sunday 7 April, that the proposed reduction of delivery days by the postal service could further deter people from picking up a pen. “All we keep hearing about is how expensive stamps are becoming, and that it’s a rubbish service. Now people are being told that the cheaper way of sending letters will take longer. Even if it doesn’t mean too much difference, it will just put people off more.”
In an interview with Enterprise Nation, Sarah Laker, founder of Stationery Supplies, in Marple and Wilmslow in Cheshire said: “There is something really rather wonderful about receiving a handwritten letter or card through the post; the thought that someone cares about you enough to choose, write and send a card, connecting you both across the miles is really rather wonderful.”
Sarah continued by saying that “the thought of second class being reduced to two days a week is simply awful. This great British tradition will be severely affected, as will all the businesses along the chain. I feel that we should be looking to restore customer confidence in Royal Mail and ensuring an affordable, regular and reliable service for all.”
