Postal service competition inquiry launched by MPs
In response to complaints from Royal Mail which says it is facing unfair competition from rival firms, the Business, Innovation and Skills Commons Select Committee has announced an inquiry into how competition is affecting Royal Mail’s obligation to provide a universal service. The inquiry will consider access and end to end delivery of mail, parcel delivery services and the impact of competition on the Universal Service Obligation (USO). Ofcom, the postal services regulator, through the Postal Services Act 2011, sets out the minimum requirements of the USO which includes – at least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every address in the UK, at least one collection of letters from Monday to Saturday from every access point in the UK, and postal services at an affordable and uniform tariff across the UK. Although privatised in 2013, Royal Mail claims it competitors can “cherry-pick” easy-to-serve urban areas that are more profitable than rural areas, and choose to deliver easy-to-process mail. In practice this means Royal Mail has to subsidise more expensive deliveries in rural areas from the profits it makes from deliveries in urban areas. As a high volume user of the post office and Royal Mail, I am left wondering if regular postal deliveries to rural communities and businesses soon become a thing of the past leaving thousands of people isolated. The deadline for submitting written evidence to the Select Committee inquiry is Friday 24 October 2014.