Firms fear cost of Royal Mail changes

Representatives of small businesses and workers have expressed concern at “drastic’’ plans to reduce the frequency of second-class post deliveries, warning it could have damaging knock-on effects for the economy.

Royal Mail is proposing to cut the delivery of second-class letters to every other weekday as it looks to tackle heavy losses and changing customer habits. First-class mail would continue six days a week but the business also wants to reduce the delivery speed for bulk business mail, to arrive within three days instead of two.

The proposals were outlined in Royal Mail’s submission to a consultation on the future of the universal service obligation, its legal requirement to deliver letters to all addresses in the UK six days a week. It says the requirement