Targets not met, but Royal Mail defends performance
The chief executive of Royal Mail has defended the company’s performance after the latest figures show that it has failed to meet its delivery targets.
Over the last five months First Class next day delivery performance ran at about 88.3 per cent, significantly lower that the target of 92.5 per cent of all First Class letters to be delivered by noon the next day.
In May, the delivery dipped to 86.2 per cent, in what has been described as a “temporary dip” by the company, which stressed that next-day delivery performance was hitting around 92 per cent in August.
The target for delivery of Second Class mail (98.5 per cent) was also missed.
Chief executive Adam Crozier, said: “There is now real evidence the service is getting better.
“Clearly there were some problems in the spring but the service has improved, month-on-month, since May. We are now approaching our target level for First Class mail.”
Mr Crozier claimed that the service dipped whilst it was undergoing a massive modernisation process, which will benefit customers in the long run. 95 per cent of these modernisations have been implemented he claimed.
Arguing that success is around the corner, he said: “Royal Mail is now operating profitably after launching its renewal plan two and a half years ago when the company was losing more than £1 million every working day. Only a business that is successful financially can continue delivering the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service to the UK’s 27 million addresses in a market that will be open to full competition from rivals in two and a half years, perhaps less.”
“Everyone in Royal Mail is focused on making further improvements to Royal Mail’s service to customers”
Mr Crozier also announced that the amount of compensation being paid is at the highest level ever, with £50 million being returned to customers who suffered strike disruption.
The main postal union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) expressed concerns about the emphasis on turning around the company’s financial position. Deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, said: “We are really worried that there is far too much focus on the financial renewal plan agreed with the Government, an emphasis which we believe has been to the detrimement of quality of service levels.
“The Union’s position is that quick fix initiatives to improve the company’s profitability will seriously undermine Royal Mail’s long-term financial security if they damage the sustainable service we are able to deliver to customers.
“In some areas too many jobs have been taken out – and they will have to be put back to make the service work to the standard the public has a right to expect.
“Royal Mail has got to realise that you can’t provide a quality service on the cheap.”
