Yahoo Finance Royal Mail risks terminal decline, warn card makers
Britain is “sleepwalking” towards the loss of six days-a-week post, card makers have claimed, as Royal Mail lobbies for the axing of Saturday letter deliveries.
The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has written to ministers and regulator Ofcom warning that the “beloved” Royal Mail risked falling into “terminal decline”.
David Falkner, chief executive of Cardology and a leading member of the GCA, warned that customers have “lost faith” in Royal Mail after late deliveries became the norm and said customers are being forced to spend more on first-class post to ensure safe delivery.
Businesses have also lost confidence and are having to “pay for services above and beyond what we actually need”.
He said: “We took the decision last November to switch all of our deliveries to a tracked service.
“My conclusion is that this is an attempt by Royal Mail to put Saturday and Sunday delivery into a premium service, enabling them to make super-normal returns on a monopoly service.”
Mr Falkner and the GCA said: “You’ve got a situation where Royal Mail is actively campaigning for a release from this service that they’ve been able to deliver for years and years and years. It’s a company that’s done delivery for nearly 400 years.
“To believe that they have suddenly forgotten how to do that because of the pandemic just doesn’t stack up. I feel like we’re sleepwalking into losing something that’s really important to people.”
The complaint comes as Royal Mail lobbies ministers and regulators to scrap Saturday letter deliveries.
Chief executive Martin Seidenberg warned last week that Royal Mail may need a taxpayer bailout unless its delivery obligations are relaxed. He said it was “simply not sustainable” to maintain a delivery network built for 20bn letters when the company was only delivering 7bn.
The company has previously asked to be allowed to go to a weekday-only service, which would save it hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
Ofcom is drawing up a consultation paper on reforms to Royal Mail’s obligations, expected to be published this week. One potential option that could be included is axing Royal Mail’s legal obligation to deliver letters six days a week, effectively ending Saturday deliveries. The consultation is expected to lead to formal recommendations later in the year.
The GCA has written to Ofcom, business minister Kevin Hollinrake and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds expressing its concerns.
Mr Falkner runs a Royal Mail sub-committee within the GCA, which was launched last year amid the chaos caused by strikes at the company.
Amanda Fergusson, chief executive of the GCA, said Royal Mail must focus on “breaking free from the continuous doom spiral of poor performance leading to a never-ending number of regulatory interventions”.
