The Royal Mail
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Police launch hate crime investigation after Post Office refuses to accept Scottish note 30 Nov , 7: Royal Mail insists it will continue to deliver dividends as profits tumble Premium 15 Nov , 8: Week ahead in business and finance Premium 12 Nov , Customer experience should be the priority for Britain's infrastructure, not government ownership Premium John Allan 10 Nov , 5: Post Office taken to court over IT system blamed for causing 'ill health and criminals records' Premium 7 Nov , The Royal Mail's Christmas stamps through the ages 31 Oct , 1: Royal Mail shares dip below float price Premium 9 Oct , Muggleswick folk in a muddle over their links to Harry Potter muggles 6 Oct , 3: Royal Mail share price crash: The religious stamps on offer this year were designed in and feature images of the Madonna and Child.
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The secular ones were designed this year and feature families posting letters through bright red postboxes in the snow. Meanwhile a number of customers have complained of a shortage of religious stamps at their local post offices and shops, suggesting too few may have been made available. Another customer who said they were unable to buy religious stamps said: The Royal Mail denied any issues with supply and said it was up to shops and Post Offices to request more religious stamps if they had run out.
To ensure cards arrive before Christmas Day the Royal Mail recommends posting dates of December 18 for second class, December 20 for first class and December 22 for special delivery.
It also introduced an online postage service, allowing customers to pay for postage online. Royal Mail ended Sunday collections from pillar boxes that year.
Royal Mail sorting office calls cops after spike of drugs in Christmas cards
On 1 October , Postwatch was merged into the new consumer watchdog Consumer Focus. In , due to a continuing fall in mail volumes the government commissioned an independent review of the postal services sector by Richard Hooper CBE , the former deputy chairman of Ofcom. The recommendations in the Hooper Review led Business Secretary Lord Mandelson to seek to part privatise the company by selling a minority stake to a commercial partner. However, despite legislation for the sale passing the House of Lords , it was abandoned in the House of Commons after strong opposition from backbench Labour MPs.
The government later cited the difficult economic conditions for the reason behind the retreat. On 6 December , a number of paid-for services including Admail , post office boxes and private postboxes were removed from the Inland Letter Post Scheme ILPS and became available under contract. Several free services including petitions to parliament and the sovereign, and poste restante were removed from the scheme. As part of the Act, Postcomm was merged into the communications regulator Ofcom on 1 October , with Ofcom introducing a new simplified set of regulations for postal services on 27 March On 1 April , Post Office Ltd became independent of Royal Mail Group and was reorganised to become a subsidiary of Royal Mail Holdings, [58] with a separate management and board of directors.
In July , business secretary Vince Cable announced Royal Mail was to be floated on the London Stock Exchange and confirmed that postal staff would be entitled to free shares. Cable explained his position before the House of Commons:. The government's decision on the sale is practical, it is logical, it is a commercial decision designed to put Royal Mail's future on a long-term sustainable business.
It is consistent with developments elsewhere in Europe where privatised operators in Austria, Germany and Belgium produce profit margins far higher than the Royal Mail but have continued to provide high-quality and expanding services. Royal Mail's chief executive Moya Greene publicly supported Cable, stating that the sale would provide staff with "a meaningful stake in the company", while the public will be able to "invest in a great British institution".
A postal staff ballot in relation to a nationwide strike action was expected to take place in late September Applications for members of the public to buy shares opened on 27 September , [63] ahead of the company's listing on the London Stock Exchange on 15 October The government was expected to retain between a Business Secretary Vince Cable stated: Conditional trading in shares began on 11 October , ahead of the full listing on 15 October Due to the high demand for shares, an additional 7.
The CWU confirmed on 13 October that strike action would occur in response to the privatisation of Royal Mail, with a possible start date of 23 October Business Secretary Vince Cable defended the low sale price that was finalised—saying the threat of strike action around the time of the sale meant it was a fair price in the circumstances [76] —following questioning from the House of Commons Business Committee in late April Cable was required to respond to the sale price issue again on 11 July after a report was published on that date by the Business, Innovation and Skills BIS Committee.
Chaired by Adrian Bailey MP, the report concluded:. It is clear that the Government met its objectives in terms of delivering a privatised Royal Mail with an employee share scheme. However, it is not clear whether value for money was achieved and whether Ministers obtained the appropriate return to the taxpayer. We agree with the National Audit Office that the Government met its primary objective.
On the basis of the performance of the share price to date, it appears that the taxpayer has missed out on significant value. The report also concluded that the "Government over-emphasised the risk" in regard to the industrial relations between the government and the CWU, with the BIS Committee referring to the Royal Mail share price before, during and after the finalisation of the pay deal with the union. The BIS Committee called on the UK government to publish a list of the preferred investors involved in the sale, including the details of those investors who sold their shareholding.
In , the London Assembly voted to call for the renationalisation of Royal Mail. Royal Mail is required by law to maintain the universal service , whereby items of a specific size [84] can be sent to any location within the United Kingdom for a fixed price, not affected by distance. The Postal Services Act guaranteed that Royal Mail would continue to provide the universal service until at least In the event that the item does not arrive on time there is a money back guarantee.
The Royal Mail runs, alongside its stamped mail services, another sector of post called business mail. The large majority of Royal Mail's business mail service is for PPI or franked mail, where the sender prints their own 'stamp'. For PPI mail this involves either a simple rubber stamp and an ink pad, or a printed label.
For franked mail, a dedicated franking machine is used. Royal Mail will not carry a number of items which it says could be dangerous for its staff or vehicles.
Additionally, a list of 'restricted' items can be posted subject to conditions. Prohibited goods include alcoholic, corrosive or flammable liquids or solids, gases, controlled drugs, indecent or offensive materials, and human and animal remains. In Royal Mail applied to the then postal regulator Postcomm to ban the carriage of sporting firearms, saying they caused disruption to the network, that a ban would assist police with firearms control, and that ease of access meant the letters network was a target of criminals.
Royal Mail is the UK's most trusted letters and parcels delivery company. We provide a 6-days-a-week, one-price-goes anywhere postal service across the UK . Track and Trace - Track your Item. Check the progress of your deliveries.
Postcomm issued a consultation on the proposed changes in December , to which 62 people and organisations responded. In June Postcomm decided to refuse the application on the grounds that Royal Mail had not provided sufficient evidence that carrying firearms caused undue disruption or that a ban would reduce the number of illegal weapons. It also said a ban would cause unnecessary hardship to individuals and businesses.
In August Royal Mail again attempted to prohibit the carriage of all firearms, air rifles and air pistols from 30 November It cited Section 14 1 of the Firearms Amendment Act, which requires carriers of firearms to "take reasonable precautions" for their safe custody and argued that to comply would involve disproportionate cost.
A Royal Mail public consultation document on the changes said: The proposals provoked a large negative response following a campaign led by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and backed by numerous shooting-related websites and organisations. A total of 1, people gave their views in emails and letters sent to Royal Mail.
An online petition opposing the proposals was signed by 2, people, 1, of whom added comments. In the face of such opposition, Royal Mail dropped the proposals in December Royal Mail's "Door to door" service provides delivery of leaflets, brochures, catalogues and other print materials to groups of domestic and business addresses selected by postcode.
Such deliveries are made by the mail carrier together as part of the daily round. As of , Royal Mail employs around , permanent postal workers. In , Royal Mail established an in-house agency, Angard Staffing Solutions, to recruit temporary workers. Royal Mail was accused of trying to circumvent the Agency Workers Regulations, but denied this, saying they only wanted to reduce recruitment costs. Royal Mail's industrial disputes include a seven-week strike in after a dispute over pay and another strike in due to bonuses being paid to new staff recruited in London and the South East.
Royal Mail suffered national wildcat strikes over pay and conditions in In December , workers at mail centres affected by proposals to rationalise the number of mail centres particularly in north west England again voted for strike action, potentially affecting Christmas deliveries.
Localised strikes took place across the UK from June and grew in frequency throughout the summer. In September the CWU opened a national ballot for industrial action [] [] over Royal Mail's failure to reach a national agreement covering protection of jobs, pay, terms and conditions and the cessation of managerial executive action. The ballot was passed in October, causing a number of two and three-day strikes. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members' savings are protected against business failure by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The relationship between the two bodies' predecessors Postcomm and Postwatch was not always good, and in , Postwatch took Postcomm to judicial review over its decision regarding rebates to late-paying customers. Royal Mail has, in some quarters, a poor reputation for losing mail despite its claims that more than In July Ofcom consulted on a scheme proposed by Royal Mail to alter its delivery obligations to allow larger postal items to be left with neighbours rather than returning them to a Royal Mail office to await collection.
The scheme was presented as offering consumers greater choice for receiving mail when not at home, that is if Royal Mail deliver items as per their stated contractual obligations and was said to follow Royal Mail research from a 'delivery to neighbour' trial across six areas of the UK that showed widespread consumer satisfaction. Royal Mail remains liable for undeliverable items until they are received by the addressee or returned to sender. Ofcom suggested in October that the first and second class post systems could be replaced by a single class.
The new class would be set at a higher price than the current second class, but would be delivered in a shorter time-frame. Royal Mail operates a network of 38 mail centres. Mail is collected and brought to one of the mail centres. Mail is exchanged between the mail centres and then forwarded to one of 1, delivery offices, from where the final delivery is made or a P card is left. As part of the sorting process, mail is collected from pillar boxes , Post Office branches and businesses, and brought to the local mail centre.
The process is divided into two parts. The 'outward' sorting identifies mail for delivery in the mail centre geographic area, which is retained, and mail intended for other mail centres, which is dispatched.
The first Post Office pillar box was erected in in Jersey. In and , a further eight mail centres were planned to be closed. Retrieved 17 November On 1 October , Postwatch was merged into the new consumer watchdog Consumer Focus. Retrieved 14 December In , the London Assembly voted to call for the renationalisation of Royal Mail.
The 'inward' sorting forwards mail received from other centres to the relevant delivery offices within the mail centre area. Integrated mail processing IMP is the method that Royal Mail uses to sort the mail in bulk before delivery and has been implementing the technology since Integrated mail processors scan the front and back of an envelope and translate addresses into machine-readable code. Letters are given a fluorescent orange barcode that represents the address.