Greetings card retailers have suggested to Ofcom that if it has to reduce Royal Mail letter services then a midweek delivery day should be axed instead of Saturday.
The Greeting Card Association (GCA) has said it would be less damaging to halt delivery of letters on Tuesday or Wednesday, rather than proposed plans to cut Saturday deliveries.
Ofcom has published options for the future of the universal service obligation (USO), which permits Royal Mail to deliver across the country, six days a week for a set price.
The new options include cutting service from six days to five or three days, with a faster, more expensive option allowed for next-day deliveries.
Royal Mail has been pushing to cut Saturday deliveries for a while, but the government rejected the proposal last year. It has been calling for urgent reform since 2020 as it hopes to reduce costs following losses to the company and a long-term decline in letter volumes.
Ofcom has estimated savings to be between £100m-£200m if it cuts letter deliveries from six to five days a week, or £400m-£650m if this was slashed to three days.
Royal Mail is expected to publish its own figures as part of its consultation submission to Ofcom today (April 3).
Destabilising effects
In response to the Ofcom consultation, the GCA’s chief executive Amanda Ferguson said: “In the unlikely case that the case for cutting a delivery day was proven, our members would prefer this to be Tuesday or Wednesday.
“The proposed changes could wipe hundreds of millions of pounds worth of value from our otherwise stable industry, and affect other small businesses on high streets and in back bedrooms up and down the country.
“We empathise with what we view as entirely legitimate concerns expressed by the periodical publishers (and some advertisers) around the apparent absence of a plan for their industry if Saturdays were lost and believe our proposals offer some mitigation in that regard.”
Ferguson added that a three-day delivery week is “completely unpalatable to our customers and wider industry”.
Ofcom is expected to publish an update in the summer following continued discussions with those in the industry.
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