Greetings card industry calls for Saturday postal deliveries to be retained

Greetings card retailers have urged the communications industry regulator to cut a midweek delivery day rather than Saturday if it must reduce Britain's letter services, as a consultation on postal reforms closes.

- Alex Lawson

The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has said that stopping delivery of standard letters on Tuesday or Wednesday would be far less damaging than a previously mooted plan to drop Saturday deliveries.

The association was responding to an Ofcom consultation on long-awaited proposals for industry reforms published in January.

Ofcom has published a series of options for the future of the universal service obligation (USO), which requires Royal Mail to deliver countrywide, six days a week for a fixed price. They include cutting the service from six to five days or even to three days, with a faster, more expensive option retained to allow next-day deliveries.

The proposals did not specify cutting Saturday deliveries but Royal Mail has long pushed to be allowed to cut Saturdays. The government rejected the proposal last year.

The loss-making company hopes to be able to cut its services to reduce costs, amid a long-term decline in letter volumes.