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Royal Mail has accepted that its performance “needs to improve” after they revealed that a fifth of first-class packages are no longer arriving the next day. The postal company tries to deliver most of first-class letters the next day including Saturday and has a track record of doing so.
However, Covid has caused one in every five 95p stamp letters to fail to arrive in letterboxes within 24 hours, the Mirror reports. Royal Mail said its service quality has been “materially impacted” by the pandemic and workers self-isolating over the past 12 months.
According to the company’s annual quality of service report, 81.8 per cent of first-class letters received the next day in the year to April, compared to its target of 93 per cent in the previous year. The number is an increase above the 74.7 per cent of mails delivered on time during the peak of the pandemic, but it is still likely to irritate customers who are paying 95p for a first-class stamp.
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Grant McPherson, the chief operating officer at Royal Mail, said: “We know that we need to improve our performance and some of the steps we have taken to address the issues are bearing fruit. “Our transformation programme is introducing new ways of working, and a new delivery model will optimise our network for parcels.”
The cost of first- and second-class stamps was raised by Royal Mail earlier this year. The price of a first-class stamp increased by 10p to 95p, while the cost of a second-class stamp rose by 2p to 68p.
Royal Mail said costs have jumped as a result of fewer letters being sent by Brits and strong inflation, which has increased its own charges. The postal service stated that unless costs were raised, it would be unable to provide its “universal service.”
This is the promise that it costs consumers the same price to send a letter to any address in the UK, six days a week. Royal Mail came under criticism last year after suggesting it could scrap Saturday post – a move that would break its universal service obligation.
It said the coronavirus lockdown saw Royal Mail deliver 1.1billion fewer letters. But campaigners warned axing first class post could hit the most vulnerable people most.
Jan Shortt, of the National Pensioners Convention, said: “Older people, particularly those living alone, as well as other vulnerable groups unable to access online services, will be the most affected by this decision. “Like those delivering milk and other goods to homes across the country, postal workers are also the eyes and ears of communities, making sure that those known to be alone and vulnerable are staying safe and well.
“Older people, more than any other group in society still rely on the post as the preferred method of their communication. “Royal Mail may see this as a necessary cost-cutting exercise and that one day out of six without post is insignificant, but we would ask them to consider those living alone and that receiving a nice letter, card or parcel on a Saturday morning actually gives them something to look forward to and sees them through until the beginning of the week.”
Separately the postal service has agreed to push back on its plans to set a hard deadline for households to use up their old stamps. Its original plan was to give Brits until January 31 next year to use up any existing Royal Mail stamps – including seasonal ones such as Christmas stamps, before a new barcode-only stamp system came into force.
