Royal Mail bosses set to scrap Saturday deliveries in major shake-up

ROYAL Mail is planning to scrap Saturday post deliveries in a cost-cutting move as bosses claim the firm is losing £1million a day.

The struggling company said they need to “transform the way we work” with UK sales down 11.5 per cent in the three months to the end of June for an operating loss of £92million.

Chairman Keith Williams said Covid had given it extra business from posting testing kits and a jump in online deliveries that made a profit of £758m, but this was a one-off.

He told The Today programme the company is losing “£1million per day and the efficiency improvements which are needed for long-term success have stalled”.

Asked if Saturdays were to be axed, Mr Williams said: “Yes, Our consumers are not looking for that.”

Parcels on Saturdays would still be delivered as they still want a seven-day service to rival courier firms but they believe a five-day letter service would be OK for 97 per cent of the public.

The Government needs to approve the mooted changes but talks have already taken place.

The plans come after 115,000 staff at the Communications Workers Union voted on Tuesday to strike and accused Royal Mail of “pleading poverty” in their pay row.