We recently asked for your feedback on questions around the potential change of the Royal Mail USO, from 6 days to 5 days, and how this might impact you and your mailing plans.

The responses are in and from our brief survey to the negativity that was initially expressed in the media and online platforms to any potential reduction in delivery days when this was first announced doesn’t seem to have been reflected in the answers that we have received.

Surprisingly, over 58% of our respondents felt that dropping Saturday from the letter delivery schedule would be good, or make no real impact to businesses, but from a consumer perspective this figure dropped slightly, to just over 53%.

When asked if they preferred any of the current 6 delivery days to be dropped, an overwhelming 70% expressed that Saturday would be their choice.
Finally, we asked how the reduction in the letter delivery service from 6 to 5 days would impact their business, and over 80% said it wouldn’t make any impact.

The responses that we received indicate to us that people agree with the recommendations in Ofcom’s report and understand that there is a need for reform of the USO, after all the letter volumes have reduced by 7billion letter items in the past 10 years alone. A network that was geared to delivering 20 billion at its peak, is now processing nearly two thirds less and, as a business, Royal Mail is no longer able to sustain the USO standards expected. Fining and ‘beating Royal Mail with a stick’ doesn’t help anyone overall, so we need to pull together and work on a solution that works for everyone; businesses, and consumers.

The model does need to change but the next question is “Where do we go from here?”. As consumers, we have become used to receiving mail deliveries on a less frequent basis, but there are certain types of mail that are still time critical, or where the recipient requires them on a certain day.
Do we maintain a 1st Class delivery service for items such as hospital appointments and repeat prescriptions? Do we include subscription magazines with Parcel traffic, so that these items are delivered on Saturdays, which will not detract from the subscriber’s experience?
Does that mean everything else is treated as a 2nd Class or Economy mail product, so is delivered anywhere between 2-5 working days?

At bakergoodchild we value your input, and we welcome the opportunity to work with clients & industry colleagues, to help ensure that Royal Mail is a sustainable, profitable & cost-effective mail delivery solution – which helps support every business & consumer in the UK.

Mail is far from dead – it just needs an innovative approach and new life breathed into it, and now is the time for us all to work collaboratively, to ensure we get a service in place that is world leading once again. Contact us.