Post Office seeks to end exclusive link to Royal Mail | Business

The historic, centuries-long link between the Royal Mail and the nation’s network of post offices is set to come to an end as negotiations begin that could lead to the state-owned Post Office handling the packages of rival delivery firms such as Amazon.

The Post Office is understood to be going through the process of freeing itself from exclusive obligations to handle Royal Mail post and parcels.

Experts believe the UK’s 11,500 post offices could be rejuvenated by the end of the tie, with outlets free to become hubs for click-and-collect or pick-up/drop-off for parcels to take advantage of the soaring volumes in home delivery.

With this Christmas, and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales at the end of November expected to hit new