Royal Mail cutbacks ‘could signal the end of the handwritten letter’

The USO requires post to be delivered Monday to Saturday and sets targets for first and second class post.

Ofcom estimated the USO costs Royal Mail between £325 million and £675 million and warned it could become “financially and operationally unsustainable” unless the rules are eased.

The company lost £319 million in the first half of the year as it warned that letter volumes are likely to drop to 4 billion in the next five years, down from their peak of 20 billion two decades ago.

Royal Mail, which has long campaigned for the USO to be overhauled, also called for its quality of service targets to be relaxed.

Bosses said a relaxation of the rules, coupled with new reliability targets, would bring the UK in line with other European countries, including France and Italy.

Royal Mail said the changes would reduce the net cost of the USO by up to £300 million, though it warned they could take up to two years to implement.

A dying art

Ms Johnson, who established the HLAS in 2017, said: “All we keep hearing about is how expensive stamps are becoming and that it’s a rubbish service. Now people are being told that the cheaper way of sending letters will take longer – even if it doesn’t mean too much difference, it will just put people off more. This is how you get to the death of letter-writing.”

She added: “I think there is something really special about it. It’s far more private and thoughtful than an email, and it gets you away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

“Handwriting is so personal … I always wonder when someone dies whether there are any examples of their handwriting left behind, because they are the literal mark we leave,” she said. “[Letters] are a form of communication that should be cherished and promoted, and that should start with the Royal Mail bosses.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Letters remain important to us, but they continue to decline as customer preferences have changed. Volumes have declined from a peak of 20 billion a year in 2004/5 to seven billion in 2022/3. This is a trend that’s not going to stop – volumes will likely drop to four billion in five years.

“We have run numerous marketing campaigns and letter writing initiatives to promote the value of letters. But we can’t turn back the tide – the only way to save the Universal Service is to change the Universal Service.

“Our proposal includes a six-day service for First Class letters, as well as deliveries to every address every other weekday of Second Class mail.”