MPs warn universal post system ‘threatened’
Cornish MPs today (Tuesday) warned the Chief Executive of Postal Services regulator, Postcomm, that allowing higher postal charges for bulk mail in rural areas would threaten universal postal services. Royal Mail has proposed differential ‘zonal pricing’ which would see prices rise for business mail in rural areas, whilst it is cut for some urban areas.
Postcomm is charged with protecting the Universal Service Obligation, which binds Royal Mail to deliver mail to every part of the country at the same price. Meeting with Cornish MPs Dan Rogerson and Matthew Taylor today, Postcomm Chief Executive Sarah Chambers said that there was no threat for normal, stamped letters, but conceded that prices for bulk mail in Cornwall could rise if they let Royal Mail’s plans go ahead.
There could be a rise of some 4.8% in rural areas for the first year, while prices would fall in urban areas outside London.
Commenting after the meeting, North Cornwall’s MP, Dan Rogerson said:
“This is the thin end of the wedge. It can only be ominous that Royal Mail proposes a rise of just under five percent only ‘in the first year’. Who knows where these proposals will go then?
“Postcomm seemed to understand that this could have an adverse effect not just on the bulk senders but on recipients too. Just as Cornwall has achieved one of the best levels of coverage of broadband in the country, Royal Mail’s proposals could disadvantage local companies who send out bulk mail to online customers, and – in a double whammy – force up post and packing charges for shoppers in the Westcountry.”
Truro and St Austell MP, Matthew Taylor added:
“Royal Mail wants us to think this is just about business bulk mail but it’s not – in the long-term in could put deliveries to the most rural parts of Britain into serious jeopardy. If it becomes unprofitable to do mail order business with Westcountry households, that will, in turn, affect the sustainability of the door-to-door deliveries of residential mail.
“Royal Mail’s plan is ill-thought through at best, and disastrous at worst. Postcomm must now use its influence to file these proposals firmly in the wastepaper basket.”
