In the wake of this week’s announcement (Royal Mail could save £650m by moving to three-day-a-week service, says Ofcom, 24 January), maybe someone could send out a postie to knock on Vince Cable’s door for a comment or two.
It was he who, as business secretary in the coalition government, oversaw the privatisation of Royal Mail, pledging that it would not threaten the universal service obligation to deliver to any home in the UK on six days a week. Indeed, Mr Cable went as far as claiming that securing that specified level of service provision was the “overarching objective” of privatisation – despite warnings to the contrary from unions, industry and other dissenting voices.
But this somewhat inevitable outcome should come as no surprise. As we’ve seen with most privatisations in the UK, it’s never been about achieving a long-term sustainable business model, more responsive to the needs of the communities and ordinary people; it’s about making a quick buck and damn the consequences. The evidence abounds. Be it the privatised water companies, utilities, train companies or the Royal Mail – nobody delivers for the public any more.
Colin Montgomery
Edinburgh
• Deliver three days a week? If only! Where we live, in north-west London, you’re lucky if you get mail delivered one day a week. And as for parcels, whistle for it. A once-edible birthday present that was sent on 9 January still hasn’t arrived. A book sent in November? Nix. A DVD sent two weeks ago? All I have is emails from eBay asking me to rate it. On one of my despairing visits to the local delivery office to pick up our mail (letters only – parcels vanish into a black hole), I asked why this is. The woman at the counter (open 8am-10am only) said that they used to have 15 posties, but eight were “let go”. If they’re going to run a poste restante service, why not say so and have done with it? At least then we’d know where we are.
Ruth Brandon
London
• I’m not sure what Ofcom is basing its plans on. Here in Portsmouth we are already on a three-days-a-week (or fewer) delivery schedule. It is not probable that we could get as many first-class letters in one delivery, all with different posting dates, if Royal Mail weren’t storing up post until there was enough volume to put a postie on the route.
My retired parents, in a more rural location in Norfolk, don’t get deliveries more than once a week. They’ve taken to driving over to the local office every couple of days and collecting their mail. Even then letters are being lost for weeks.
Before Christmas, a “Tracked 48” parcel took six days to reach us. It was left in our recycling bin after we had already left for the holiday. It is fortunate that we have good neighbours who found it before the bins were emptied.
David Hague
Portsmouth
• Any decent citizen should welcome the prime minister’s commitment to maintaining Royal Mail’s universal six-day delivery.
However, constructive help is needed. The government should scrap the VAT on Royal Mail’s extra services such as the special delivery. A more sustainable service is good for small business customers, the lifeblood of our economy. Good communications and infrastructure such as the universal delivery are key.
John Barstow
Fittleworth, West Sussex
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