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Morning postal deliveries are killed off by stealth...now we'll have to wait until after midday
Last updated at 11:22am on 28.11.07
Delay: Early post will be a rarity (posed by model)
Postal watchdogs have quietly given the go-ahead to Royal Mail's plans to scrap traditional morning postal deliveries.
Despite fierce opposition to the changes, industry regulator Postcomm failed to make a public statement about its decision to approve the scheme.
The only notification of its stance is a document buried on the watchdog's website.
Under the new regime, which Royal Mail has already started to phase in, 60 per cent of the daily post will be delivered after midday.
Traditionally, post deliveries to homes and businesses started as early as 7.30am, with 94.4 per cent of all mail reaching its destination by midday.
However, the new arrangements, revealed by the Daily Mail in August, will mean that even the first delivery will not start until 10.30am.
Royal Mail has already moved back daily delivery times by up to one hour ahead of Christmas, while the roll-out of the full proposals is expected to take place in the new year.
The organisation claims the changes are necessary because of a new EU green directive which limits the speed of the mail lorries that criss-cross the country during the night to cut fuel emissions. However, the shift is part of a wider costcutting exercise that will slash the workforce by 40,000 and reduce overtime payments.
The watchdog's document reads: "Whilst Postcomm is concerned with the impact later delivery times can have on some postal users, there is not enough evidence to justify a regulatory intervention at the present time."
The decision to abandon traditional delivery times has been criticised by business leaders and consumer body Postwatch, who believe it heralds reduced standards of service.
A Postwatch spokesman said: "This is one of the only industries where things seem to be going backwards.
"We feel that customers are paying more for less of a service. It is disappointing.
"Our own research shows the public value daily deliveries before 12.
"We need to have a healthy and thriving Royal Mail, but not at the expense of poorer services."
The group suggested Royal Mail's changes will "ultimately leave customers with a diminished service".
It added: "It is extremely unclear how customers would benefit from this initiative; it would seem that it only benefits Royal Mail."
Natalie Evans, head of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, also condemned the move, saying: "Business needs and deserves a reliable postal service. Sadly it is not getting one.
"Businesses have made it very clear that they want post delivered at the start of every working day and collected at the end of every working day."
A Royal Mail spokesman said that the organisation had tried to move collection times from some post boxes to later in the day in order to improve services.
Postal workers have overwhelmingly backed a deal on pay and conditions, ending their long-running dispute.
The Communication Workers Union said its members voted by 64 per cent in favour of an agreement and will now receive a pay rise of 6.9 per cent over two years.
Postal workers across the country were involved in a number of strikes this summer, which crippled deliveries.
Reader views (8)
With the present high costs of sending letters, I am disgusted with proposed delivery plans. On the 16th and 17th July, my mail wasn't delivered until between 2 and 3pm. Totally unacceptable.
- Michael Edinborough, Sonning Common. UK
What do you mean .. after midday, we never get our post before midday!
- Bernard, Horsham
Maybe the rest of us should change our timetables to catch those slug-a-bed postal workers out - if we all worked noon til eight every day, we'd still get our post as we started work. And a nice lie-in as a bonus.
- Keith, Kings Cross
Just like everything else in this country, even the postal service is now third rate!
- Sue, Orpington, Kent
By stealth? Are you kidding? I can't remember the last time I received post before midday...yesterday around 3:30.
I've just been out and seen a post worker trying to deliver mail, clearly lost and refering to an A-Z. She's still wandering up and down outside as I type. I fear for the people who may never recieve their mail if it gets mis-posted...that happens more and more now too.
- Md, London
Well, for years you've needed to be lucky to have your mail delivered before 8am, by which time most of us have to have gone to work. And in any case, if it's really urgent, we have phones, e-mail and office faxes.
I'd rather see 9 to 5 deliveries than any more post office closures!
- Nigel, London
So what? We're at work most of the time anyway so it makes no difference to us. How about making posties work 9-5, reduce their pay and benefits accordingly and the Royal Mail might actually start operating at an efficient level.
- Trevor Roll, London
May I say where I live we do not get morning post and have not had morning post for a number of years. We are lucky if some days we get out post by midday. I have seen the post drop through my letterbox at 7pm in the evening, but more often than not it is between 3 - 4pm and latley we have anything from 2-4 posts a day. I live beside a lot of offices and they want their post first so residents will have to wait until our postman has finished doing their area first, I for one feel sorry for our postman.
- Anna, London
