Second class post to be slashed to just three deliveries a week under Ofcom proposal
Second class post to be slashed to just three deliveries a week under Ofcom proposal
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Historic plans to scrap second class post deliveries on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays were unveiled today by a regulator. Communication watch-dog Ofcom said second class mail could be restricted to deliveries on “alternate weekdays” with the Saturday service abolished.
This could mean second class letters and parcel only being delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. However the first class post service would continue on Monday to Saturday although the cost of a stamp could go up as the current price cap would be removed. The cap on the price of a second class stamp would remain.
Ofcom said the proposed changes would “protect features of the post that matter most to people - to put the universal service on a more sustainable footing.”. Natalie Black, Ofcom's group director for networks and communications, said: "The world has changed - we're sending a third of the letters we were 20 years ago. We need to reform the postal service to protect its future and ensure it delivers for the whole of the UK.
"But we're safeguarding what matters most to people - First Class mail six days a week at the same price throughout the UK, and a price cap on Second Class stamps.". Twenty years ago, Royal Mail was delivering 20 billion letters but it has fallen to just 6.6 billion a year, of which about two thirds is “bulk mail.” The total is expected to drop further to be 4 billion a year in the coming years.
