Royal Mail plans ‘bin collection’-style website to track days you’ll get post

Royal Mail is reportedly set to set up a “bin collection”-type website for households to track which day they will receive mail. The Guardian reports the Royal Mail is mulling over new service where customers can input their postcode to discover which days their letter deliveries are due.

The UK could see Royal Mail ending Saturday deliveries for second-class letters as the industry watchdog Ofcom weighs changes to postal service operations. Since January, Ofcom has been discussing the future of the universal postal service and is now exploring amendments specifically to second-class service, aiming to maintain six-day-a-week deliveries for first-class mail.

Plans on the table suggest that second-class post wouldn’t be delivered on Saturdays and would instead operate on alternate weekdays, while delivery times are expected to stay the same at a maximum of three working days.

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A senior industry source said: “The idea is that it would work in the same way as the bin collection site. Anything Royal Mail can do to show that cuts can be done smoothly and the service can be more predictable and reliable could convince Ofcom.”

A dedicated government webpage allows consumers in England and Wales to look up their bin collection days. The industry source added: “Those who rely on the service the most will be those, typically older, people who are not connected to the internet to check when their deliveries are due.

“Also, if this lists when the post is supposed to be delivered – that’s not a guarantee the delivery will happen given the current state of the service. The fine for failure against delivery targets last year was too small against the financial benefits of stripping out operational costs. Royal Mail must not allowed to reduce the service without improving reliability.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Ahead of any potential reform of the universal service, Royal Mail is exploring a range of options to ensure customers have the information they need about their local postal services.”