The watchdog is poised to lay out a series of options for the future of deliveries, including the universal service obligation (USO), which mandates Royal Mail to deliver nationwide at a fixed price, six days a week.
Pre-empting the review, a row has already broken out over an expected option to cut Saturday letter deliveries . As recently as last year, Ofcom rejected the idea – which Royal Mail has pushed for. Industry sources claim a cut to a five-day service is the first step on a road to a three-day week, or alternate-day service, or potentially relaxing delivery targets.
Last week, Martin Seidenberg, the chief executive of Royal Mail’s parent company, said the USO was “unsustainable” and highlighted shifts in postal services across Europe in a letter to MPs.
However, some industry experts say comparing different countries’ services is difficult – with widely different populations, geographies, rates of letter volume decline and approaches to how customers are charged for distances of delivery and weight of packages. Here is how some different counties are approaching their post.
France
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