Potential loss of Jersey’s mail plane would have ‘very little impact’ on online shopping delivery times

JERSEY Post has sought to reassure Islanders that the potential loss of Jersey’s mail plane would have ‘very little impact’ on online shopping delivery times.

Alan Merry, chair of the States-owned entity, stressed that the majority of parcels bought from websites such as Amazon arrived by boat and would therefore be unaffected by any change.

He spoke out after Islanders raised concerns about Royal Mail’s plans to replace Jersey’s daily mail flight with a ferry service amid a wider review of its postal schemes for 2023.

A consultation on the potential changes – which have sparked fears of an extra working day being added to delivery times – closed at the start of this month.

Mr Merry said: ‘The perception is that it will impact on people. What you see in the press and the blogs is: “This is going to impact me getting that parcel”.

‘Almost all of the parcels, if not all of them, come in by ferry and have done for ages. But people have the perception that the immediate and quick delivery they get from the retailer or Amazon is because it comes on the plane – and it’s not the case.’

He explained that the biggest impact would be on local businesses ‘trying to get things off-Island’.

‘The key thing is that we are working with those businesses to try to provide them with suitable alternatives,’ he added.

Jersey Post chief executive Mark Siviter said that the full details of the responses to the consultation might never be revealed.

‘We probably won’t get sight of all the feedback, because when you respond to a public consultation you have the right for it to remain confidential.

‘So anyone who responds can say they want all, or some of it, to remain confidential. Having said that, Royal Mail have now collated the responses and we’re in dialogue at the minute with them to talk through what sort of responses they’ve got.’

He added: ‘So how soon could it go? Well, I’m not sure there’s a date on it because there’s so many moving parts, in terms of government discussions, commercial discussions – but I think it could be this year.’

Jersey Post this week announced that it recorded a loss of £6.6 million for 2022, after supply-chain disruption, workforce shortages, the war in Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis and industrial unrest led to increased operating costs and a 46% gross-margin reduction.

The company also saw a 10% drop in the volume of inward mail and a 9% decline in parcels.