Royal Mail would prefer not to deliver letters on Saturdays, a plea that would be more powerful if the company could get vaguely close to hitting the performance standards currently expected of it. The postal service was miles off last year. Only 74% of first-class letters were delivered on time, versus a target of 93%, for instance. Even the regulator Ofcom, often a soft touch on these matters, said it was growing tired of hearing excuses about Covid hangovers and opened an investigation.
Thus one could take the view that Ofcom’s review of the universal service obligation (USO) – and Royal Mail’s welcome for it – is premature. Fix the current setup before contemplating reform, one could argue. Anything else might look like a reward for failure.
