Royal Mail calls for tracking to be included in USO

• 21 July 2022
• Transport / Logistics Services

Royal Mail has asked regulator Ofcom to reconsider its decision not to allow it to track packages under the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

Ofcom had ruled that it could not allow tracking of parcels under USO as it would hurt competition. At the same time the regulator had laid out new guidelines for parcel carriers to simplify their complaints processes and dealings with disabled customers effective 2023.

The postal operator had asked Ofcom to add tracking to first and second class parcels under USO to ensure that all postal users can receive a minimum level of service at a reasonable price.

“Tracking is no longer seen as an optional extra or a premium offer, it is a necessity,” Royal Mail said in a statement.

“If regulation is a blocker to modernisation, it will increasingly put the finances of the universal service at risk.”

This is just one issue the postal operator is dealing with at the moment after it mismanaged the parcels boom in the pandemic and now faces industrial action from many of its staff.