International Distribution Services : Royal Mail Q2 Quality of Service Results 2024-25

Royal Mail today issues its Universal Service Obligation (USO) Quality of Service report for First and Second Class mail for Q2 2024-25.

Over the quarter from 1 July to 29 September 2024, Royal Mail delivered 76.3% of First Class mail within one working day, 92.1% arriving within two days and 99.1% within five days.

For Second Class mail, 92.6% arrived within three working days and 98.6% within five days.

Quality of service has continued to improve over the past 12 months with First Class deliveries improving 2.2% year-on-year and Second Class deliveries improving 1.3% year-on-year.

Royal Mail continues to take action to improve its quality of service and adapt to the structural decline in letter volumes, whilst meeting the growing demand for larger parcels and next day deliveries. This has included increased recruitment of permanent employees, initiatives to reduce sick absence and improve retention, and the removal of domestic flights to move more mail by road, which is more reliable and better for the environment.

Royal Mail has continued to invest in more automation to improve reliability. Three new parcel sorting machines in Plymouth, Exeter and Leeds and six new large parcel conveyors have been added to the network. As a result, parcel automation has now reached 84%, and is expected to reach around 90% by the end of March 2025.

Royal Mail is also transforming the way it tracks parcels and letters throughout the network by digitally tagging its 850,000 York containers. This digital tagging technology will improve efficiency, visibility and reliability, enabling Royal Mail to quickly spot and address issues in the network.

In preparation for its busiest time of the year, the company has added 4,000 new vehicles, opened five seasonal parcel sorting centres, and is recruiting 16,000 temporary workers to help its 85,000 posties sort the increased numbers of parcels and letters.

Royal Mail Chief Operating Officer, Alistair Cochrane, said: “Delivering a high quality service to our customers remains our top priority. We are continuously evolving our operational model to bring about long-term improvements to our quality of service.

“With Christmas around the corner, we are doing all we can to build on last year’s success when we delivered our best Christmas for customers in four years.

“When letter volumes have declined from 20 billion a year at their peak to just 6.7 billion a year now, it is vital that the Universal Service is reformed to ensure a sustainable and reliable service for many years to come. We look forward to continuing to engage with stakeholders in the lead up to Ofcom’s consultation.”