Could Saturday post deliveries be scrapped?

Receiving post six days per week could soon be history if unions accept proposals to cut most Saturday deliveries.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) appears to have conceded a six-day post delivery service is financially unviable following rumours that the postal service could be taken over.

There are reports that a foreign private equity investor, EP Corporate Group, could be buying into, and potentially taking a controlling stake of, International Distribution Services (IDS), Royal Mail Group’s corporate holding company.

Currently, under the terms of the universal service obligation (USO) set down by an act of Parliament in 2011, Royal Mail is required to deliver post from Monday to Saturday.

Six-day option ‘no longer financially viable’

Up until now, CWU has opposed proposals that would include scrapping most Saturday services. But the union has now appeared to concede that a complete six-day service is unaffordable.

Speaking at the Postal Conference 2024, Martin Walsh, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “The reality is, the USO as a six-day option is no longer financially viable. The challenges we face are so significant – probably the most challenging time in this union’s history, whether it’s the USO change, sale or possible takeover.”

However, Walsh said the union would oppose “any decision by Ofcom to any reduction in delivery frequency to a three- or four-day USO and any speed-of-delivery option [that] delays first-class or moves the delivery of second-class products to just two days a week.”

Royal Mail reported a £1bn loss last year. Bosses blamed poor productivity on strike action by CWU members and a failure to increase productivity during a year in which it cut 10,000 jobs.

It also said that fewer deliveries were required because the volume of letters sent has fallen from 20 billion in 2004-05 to seven billion last year.

A six-day service could mean that first-class postal deliveries would still be delivered. However, first-class stamp prices are not capped, meaning Royal Mail could increase prices sufficiently to reduce the number of Saturday deliveries it is required to make.

Related: Royal Mail letter delivery days could halve